


War’s Melody

by WhatHaveIgottenMyselfInto



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi | Fire Emblem: Binding Blade
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, M/M, Mental Instability, Rated M because nature doesn’t care about language and Wolt has a “Secret Diary”, Sorry everyone is gay (shrugs)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2020-11-01 08:23:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20812043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatHaveIgottenMyselfInto/pseuds/WhatHaveIgottenMyselfInto
Summary: As Roy’s coronation ceremony approaches, he and his companions will have to overcome a few... er... challenges.Sue and Wolt go on a quest to find a perfect gift while Roy and Lilina have an argument behind everyone’s backs for the millionth time.





	1. Family

**Author's Note:**

> Since this is a WIP (for now?) I’m going to have to update the summary as the story goes... please wake me up from this nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The 42nd festival of the year!  
Roy and Lilina can certainly handle all of these with a smile!  
.... or so they think

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why did I decide this was gonna be a chapter fic...?  
Enjoy this chapter, for now.  
Eat your greens! :>

##### [Preface Arc]:

###### [The Stained Glass]

**[Part I] / [Chapter 1]:**

### Family

All of the countries of Elibe rejoiced, as it was a year since the end of a long, long, war.

Parades everywhere, vibrant colors, festivals, parties, cakes, fireworks, and many, many more things that the continent of Elibe had to offer.

The mood was at an all-time high; it seemed as if the darkness from before had banished.

It is true that the darkness was gone… but with something gone there has to be a replacement.  
Sorrow, mourning, cries….. gloom...

The people were happy, and that was more important than a leader’s happiness, right?

As the people of Phearae sang and danced, their new leaders, Roy and Lilina, stood in silence in quiet spot in the woods near the parade.

Everything was different.

To them, at least.

“Please tell me I’ll wake up from this hellish nightmare…” Lilina trailed.

“As much as I’d wish it were one…. It isn’t,” Roy replied.

Lilina sighed, sitting down in a nearby fallen-tree, and wished, ”I want things to go back to normal. I want us to be happy again”

She looked very distraught. Roy knew this whole ordeal had taken a giant toll on both of them.

For starters, they, as they were told, had by far the worst insomnia. Lilina was starting to become much more aggressive and Roy overworked himself to the bone every day no matter what. They both flinched at even the slightest breeze of air caused my one of the castle maids just passing by and frequently they spaced out during important meetings.

It was… concerning, but they hid it well.

After all, a leader must look strong for their people.

“I also want that as well, but... We can’t have everything,” Roy responded, taking a seat next to Lilina.

In Roy’s view, of course, having what they had was enough. For Lilina on the other hand...

“But why can they be happy at the cost of our happiness? Why can’t we be happy like them?!” Lilina exclaimed.

She had a good point; everyone in the army left the war in much worse shape than the masses could ever imagine. Many of the allies Roy and Lilina made had similar problems as them. Just the thought was disheartening….

“We had our happiness. Maybe they are the ones who need it right now”

“The townsfolk are always happy! They are rarely ever sad and now we are sulking; crawling in their shadows cast by their ignorant joy!” Lilina cried.

Lilina was always the one to find a more positive outcome to situations, but all she could see right now is black, not a single drop of white at all. She wasn’t in a really good emotional state at the moment and this was just making it worse.

“Lilina, we are more powerful than them. We have control over them. They are less fortunate than us. If we have power, then they should have something in return as well,” Roy tried to reason.

“Are you listening to yourself? WE are the ones who have to save them from trouble, WE are the ones who clean up their messes. WE are the ones who babysit them because they can’t even take care of themselves!” Lilina argued.

“That’s because we are their leaders! We have more money than them, more power, more clothes, more food, jewels, crowns, everything they want! We have lived in far better conditions than them and we have more knowledge than the people! We have all these nice things and they have to work harder than us to have all we have!” Roy shot back.

“Roy, for Elimine’s sake, be more selfish! Don’t you see how hard you’ve worked too? You have worked harder than those townspeople in a lifetime-!”

“That is not true!”

“You lead the army against Zephiel, you are trying to rebuild Elibe, work out treaties, make alliances, and looking out for Lycia altogether! Dare to tell me that you haven’t had a stupid migraine from all these things you are doing right in my face!” Lilina said angrily.

Roy sat in silence for a second, but he couldn’t say anything if not Lilina would blow up even more.

She was like a volcano; she goes slow at first but when you can’t see it, she’ll send a rock and an asphyxiating cloud of ash into your face at the same time.

But what she said was true. He has been trying to keep Lycia in a good footing ever since their parents’ death.

“We don’t deserve this kind of treatment from any god or goddess, especially you! You’ve been working non-stop for the last year trying to fix the tears on Elibe left behind by Zephiel! You have been trying to sort all of these stupid little issues out at the same time because you believe everyone else deserves all the nice things except you! You are selfless and it is getting out of hand! You’re risking your own health because of some shitty, unreachable standard you’ve put on yourself!” Lilina screeched.

Roy sat there in silence again, before saying, “I am not selfless”

“Give me _one_ example then!”

He sat in silence once again.

Lilina had caught him in her trap once again.

All of his life, Roy has had this warped idea that others should be put before himself, and ever since they met at 10, Lilina couldn’t understand how he even got it into his head.

Roy has always been so easy for snotty, bratty, entitled nobles to step on and she could tell they’ve been doing it even years before they met. His confidence showed it and only those close to him could only notice, which was absurd since it was fairly obvious.

“‘I am not selfless’. Roy, I will never believe those words coming out of you until you’ve actually proved yourself”

Roy couldn’t say anything.

He had lost against Lilina once again.

“We both know you want something but you just don’t want to admit it! Tell me the truth!”

Oh, and did she know much about Roy’s wishes. Every single time while they were in the town’s shops she could tell by Roy’s uneasy actions that he wanted something but wouldn’t let himself take it. He could easily buy something for someone else but not something for himself.

The warped moral had always left Roy very confused and sometimes frustrated with himself.

He wanted so many things… yet he couldn’t ask for any of them due to his bad habit.

Roy sighed as he didn’t want to admit it. It was foolish; just a dream that would never become a reality. It was stupid. Dumb. Not even magic can achieve such a feat.

“I’m waiting”

Roy hesitated to answer, but it was his own sister. _What could go wrong?_

Of course, he really had to think of his word choice carefully as Lilina had a sharp eye for finding loopholes. That was shown in her magic constantly.

“I-I…”

He still didn’t want to say what he wanted the most.

It was connected to the desire he had forbidden himself to even dare to think about. To him, it was the worst thing he could ever ask for and it’s been like this for years; beating himself over such a selfish vision. Yet, he still had those vivid dreams at night. The warmth and happiness it had given him and the weight on his heart completely gone….

But it was all a dream.

_Nothing but a foolish dream._

Nothing but a selfish wish to be happy…

He didn’t want to become rotten.

Making an unwilling person suffer at his hand just because he could, like Zephiel.

Yet, that nightmare haunted him.

_... The only logical thing._

“I want to be void of emotions”

That answer shook Lilina a little as it was... incredibly unusual. She expected something more lighthearted and with his tone, it was impossible not to notice this was important.

“How come?”

A question Roy feared to answer.

He never intended for anyone to find out about it, but Lilina was his sister.

She was his sister…… _what could she do?_

He thought back to the warmth... happiness... he felt as if he was on cloud 9.

The smile he remembered from his dream.

  
The tension of his nightmare.

  
The sweet aroma from his vivid blessings of which he wished more of.

  
The begging to stop in the bloody, bloody curses that he wished that didn’t wake him up at night.

  
_The blush of his own face as he felt the breeze..._

No.

What would his parents think if they knew what he sinned?

What would anyone else think?

How would the townsfolk react?

They would shun him, most likely.

Shun him for thinking such foolish visions of having someone fill up the second throne next to the one that would soon be his…

Lilina was his sister.

_What could go wrong?_

“I… I have fallen in love,” the redhead admitted, flustered.

Lilina was dumbfounded

She could not believe what she heard.

Her own brother in love? That was what was behind that odd wish? That’s what he made a big deal about?

... He was truly beyond her comprehension.

“Who’s it then?” Lilina inquired.

Roy couldn’t back out now. Especially without knowing that Lilina was aware about… _that_.

His heart would just hurt on the thought of the one he had fallen. His mind drifted to the person he secretly loved during the worst of times, which occurred mostly during the night. It was an endless loop of torturing himself with the thought of the person he loved….

“Tell me!” Lilina demanded.

“I’ve already told you enough,” Roy decided.

“C’mon! I’ve told you many things before and you can’t tell me a single one?!”

“I said I’ve told you enough,” the prince restated, anger clear in his voice and his light-blue eyes.

“Fine! I’ll find out sooner or later anyway!” Lilina stated, which was true.

She always found out about Roy’s whereabouts. This would certainly not be an exception to the rest.

“We’ll see about that,” Roy pouted.

“Mhm…. I guess we should go back to the festival. People are going to notice”

“Finally, something I agree with,” Roy sneered.

Lilina gasped, holding a hand over her heart overdramatically.

“How dare you say that! I thought you loved me!”

Roy chuckled.

Even though their argument was over, Roy had an awful feeling Lilina’s point during their quarrel was something that could become into something far, _far_ worse...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should explain some things... right?  
Ok so:  
-Arcs are just chapters or phases within this story, to those not informed.  
-I plan to upload once a month (idk specific dates but somewhere in the month).  
-... this is the first AU I’ve put actual effort in. Ngl this is weird.  
-I don’t think I have anything else to say. Thank you for reading


	2. Frenemies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing can piss off Sue!  
Absolutely nothing!  
Not even Wolt!  
Wait what do you mean Sue gets pissed easily by Wolt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, Pt. 2 of this monstrosity.  
This is more lighthearted, thankfully. I don’t think people are ready to witness Lilina being an Alpha Male for another chapter so right now, it’s Sue’s time to become the strong, dominant woman she is and will always be.

##### [Preface Arc]:

###### [The Stained Glass]

**[Part II] / [Chapter 2]:**

### Frenemies

“Sue!” Wolt yelled as he caught up to the older archeress.

It was a typical day-before-an-important-event day. People were buzzing with joy as Roy was about to become the king of Lycia after a year of him proving to the Kingdom of Lycia that he could take on a king’s duties despite the backlash he got.

Sue had thought she could go the day without Wolt needing her assistance, but of course, this is Wolt who is being talked about here.

Of course, she was bound to have a busy day. Sue sighed as she turned around to see the younger boy as he ran up to her frantically.

“I haven’t got anything! And the coronation is only a day away! What am I going to do??!?” Wolt panicked.

Wolt was only one year younger than Sue. Only _Only one_. How could someone so close to a prince not be able to do things on his own? Maybe Roy is the one to blame...  
“I’ve already told you. Hear the wind or listen to the call of the trees-“

“I’ve tried and failed! Please, Sue! I’ll do anything!” Wolt begged.

Sue was puzzled in regards to Wolt’s behavior, as he constantly sought approval from others despite being looked up to by thousands of townsfolk. He did have the potential do so great... yet the only thing holding him back was his own demons.\

Sue sighed for the 5689th time in annoyance.

It was just typical Wolt stuff again.

“You can do this by yourself, Wolt. I don’t need to be babysitting you around,” Sue responded as she kept on looking at the flowers in front of her.

“Please Sue! I don’t know what to do!”

“I’ve already told you; if he loves you back, he’ll love the thing you give him as a gift,” she said as she grabbed a lilac from the group of flowers.

“But what if I mess things up? What if he doesn’t love me back? What if-“

Sue was ready to slap this idiot in the face, but she decided not to do so yet and instead passive-aggressively said,” If you don’t shut the hell up and just get something for Roy I will not be very happy and make sure to haunt you even after I fucking die”

… which could be true, and that scared Wolt. Sue was the person to keep her cool and for this to happen was a rare occurrence. There was a reason as to why Sue had a lot of patience; she was _terrifying_ when she was pissed. _Great thing Mother Earth and Father Sky never cared about language._

If they did then Sue would’ve already been in hell.

Wolt immediately froze, a little frightened of Sue's threat.

“Y-yes ma’am”

“Now, be a good servant to Lord Roy and get something small for him. You don’t have to say that it’s an act out of love; just tell him it’s just a present for becoming a king.”

“Okay, Sue…” Wolt trailed.

He was reluctant about that idea since it had been for years that he has had the biggest crush on Roy. He had been wanting to tell him for a long time… yet he couldn’t. His now-worsened anxiety, panic attacks, and perfectionism just wouldn’t allow it.

“If he asks you for anything, do it, kind of how you already do. If he asks you to fuck him, fuck hi-“ Sue was mindlessly advising before Wolt put his hand over her mouth whilst blushing furiously.

Wolt should’ve expected this kind of behavior from Sue. She relentlessly teased him about his crush on Roy and said the most embarrassing things in a friendly kind of way. Wolt hated that aspect of Sue, but she was still a really good friend. Friends, but with a _different aura._

“S-Sue! Don’t say such things like that in that way!” Wolt exclaimed, still flustered.

Thankfully, nobody noticed them and saved Wolt from an embarrassing situation.

“You asked for my help,” Sue reasoned,” if he asks you to suck his d-“

“Sue! S-Stop saying things like that!” Wolt demanded as Sue picked two light-pink lilies for the flowers.

She knew what Wolt dreamed about. The idiot left his diary ‘hidden’ but it could easily be found. He was naive, she had to admit, but he was also precocious. He was sweet and kind but his hormones clearly want something more than just a friendship with Roy.

She had known that even before she had thought of Wolt as a friend during the war and the only way she found out was- well…. Wolt isn’t that good at keeping his mouth shut. _Maybe that’s something Roy was into._

Oh well... that cute little date Wolt wrote about really wasn't anything to get a lead out of,,,

“As I said, you asked, no, _begged_ for my help. I’m telling you what you should do,” she said as she looked at the dahlias and irises.

“You know Master Roy wouldn’t do that!” Wolt whined.

“Wolt, we’re teenagers. He has at least thought of you in a lewd state calling him ‘Master Roy’ or 'Lord Roy' with the tone you give him,” she said calmly as she took a hibiscus.

Wolt froze yet again and blushed hard.

One thing Wolt was good at in his secret little diary was describing things in awfully high detail for a 15-year old. Not even Roy could compare to the amount of detail Wolt put into his diary. How did he do it so effortlessly? It was a mystery.

“Haven’t you been friends with him for years? You should be aware of these types of things,” Sue said as she moved on to a decoration stand rather than the flower stand she finished eyeing.

“It’s not like that anymore, Sue…” Wolt sputtered as soon as he got his thoughts back together.

_It’s not Roy in specific who he had fell in love with..._ Sue wasn’t going to skip out on the chance of teasing the younger archer. “It’s not like you haven’t had thoughts of you and Roy all alone,” she said with a small smirk.

Sue turned around and laughed as Wolt was a blushing mess. He had crimson-red blush on his cheeks and the tips of his ears.

“Oh, so I’m right?” She said between laughs.

She just said those things as a joke and Wolt just took it way too seriously.

“Shut up Sue! I-“ Wolt hissed before he was interrupted by Sue.

“Roy and Wolt witting in a tree!“ Sue mockingly sang before Wolt interrupted her interruption.

“Not that song!” Wolt cried out.

He hated that song. During his childhood, he spent most of his time around a particular boy a few years back and all the girls kept on singing the rated _E for Everyone_ version of the song. Of course, back then, _she_ got all flustered like a _girl_ would do, as _she_ only saw the poor boy as a friend. He didn’t deserve that kind of treatment from the assholes, as he was sweet once you had gotten to know him.

“Tell me a reason to not sing that song during the ball in front of all the nobles”

“Because I’ll repay you for your help,” Wolt said begrudgingly and added, “I’ll give you anything you wish for if you just give me a hand”

Sue rolled her eyes as she knew if she didn’t Wolt she would be doomed and asked, “all right; I’ll help you out as long as you help me, ok?”

“Deal!” Wolt gleefully accepted without a second thought.

“All right; we should get going then,” Sue said as she lined up to pay for the flowers and the bow she bought.

“Sue… I have a question,” Wolt said sheepishly.

“Hm?” Sue hummed.

“Why my help as well?” He asked, now kind of regretting not thinking his decision through.

“You know Lilina far better than I do. I think advice for advice is a good exchange,” Sue explained while she paid.

“I guess you have a point,” Wolt said, scratching his head.

As the duo made their way back to the castle, Sue had one more - well two- more things she needed to address.

“Wolt, can I give you a piece of advice” Sue asked.

“Of course,” Wolt responded, puzzled.

“You always agree with almost everything I, Roy, and Lilina say. You seriously need to stand up for yourself,” Sue addressed.

“I’m fine Sue,” Wolt assured.

“No, you’re not. You have come to me for simple things because you can’t do it yourself,” she noted.

“I can do things by myself, Sue!” Wolt shot back.

“Then why have you been bugging me for a week to help you buy a gift for Roy? You can do it yourself and just leave me alone”

Wolt stayed quiet.

She was undeniably right and that crushed Wolt. Roy had his problems, so did he. Wolt had always been bossed around; helping his mother cook and clean and obeying her whenever she said to stop playing with Roy as he had studies to do. They never argued about it, they just always obeyed their parents’ orders. The thing that separated Wolt’s case from Roy’s was that he had a bad habit of easily being bossed around and he needed to be bossed around. He had become far too dependent on people with higher power than him.

“Exactly. Now, we’ll practice being confident so you can give Roy his gift without stuttering or saying something wrong,” Sue declared.

Since Wolt was a 15-year-old with some really bad cases of panic attacks, anxiousness, bad eyesight, clumsiness, body dysphoria, and insomnia, it was going to be difficult trying to teach him self-confidence.

“Thank you, Sue,” Wolt beamed.

“Alright, so, what should I give Lilina?” Sue asked Wolt.

Wolt pondered for a second before suggesting,” She has quite the sweet tooth! Maybe something sweet?”

“Like what?” Sue asked in response.

As they were walking down the road, he saw the fruit stands that made him recall what Lilina loved the most.

“She likes Sacaen pastries a lot. I believe she hasn’t had one in years,” Wolt informed Sue.

“You sure?” Sue inquired.

“I’m sure. I remember her mentioning how Lady Lyndis got her some from Sacae during her childhood recently,” Wolt recalled.

Sue thought of it and agreed to bake her a few things and give it to her, though the thought of Lyn baking sweets for Lilina made Sue resentful...

“Great! I’ll have to go get a few more things, though. Want to come?” Sue asked.

“Of course! … as long as you don’t make such... '_weird_' comments again,” Wolt added.

She just smiled at her shorter partner-in-crime. “Of course, you dolt,” she teased.

“As you say, oh _Lady Sue_,” Wolt joked.

“Fine then, _Sir Wolt_“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... this is going to get rushed and confusing for the next two chapters...  
... I’m saying this as if it wasn’t already rushed and confusing....  
Don’t worry; Part IV should give some more context :)


	3. Foreseen Faker and the Foreign Spy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time needs to be a thing here, and therefore it is now afternoon-the night. Characters get to interact and Mark is mentioned...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mark being Roy's mother? Self-Indulgent much, old me?
> 
> Hi, 2020 Dynamite/Diya here I am very tired of editing and I have a bad feeling I'm gonna have to rewrite a few things to make my writing make more sense... fun times...

##### [Preface Arc]:

###### [The Stained Glass]

**[Part III] / [Chapter 3]:**

### Foreseen Faker and Foreign Spy

Roy started walking down the hall when suddenly he could tell someone was in the kitchen.

As per his senses, he went to the source and he found Sue baking something.

Roy wasn’t aware that Sue could bake, but she looked happy, even though she was multitasking between the things in the burning furnace and the preparation.

The kitchen was made up of 4 main furnaces and various other appliances. As expected, it looked elegant since the soon-to-be king walked upon its premises.

“Roy, what brings you here?” She asked as she placed another unbaked good in the furnace.

She was covered in flour and various other spices she used to make her multiple batches of sweet treats. It was a rare occurrence to see Sue with a ponytail in her hair.

“The real question is why are you baking?” Roy inquired as he got closer to where Sue was standing.

Meanwhile, the closer he got, the more violent heat he could feel from the furnace.

He leaned on the counter as Sue started preparing another batch of whatever she was baking.

“Do you want to try some?” She asked as she offered some really good-looking cookies.

Roy agreed and did the little taste test.

Either with stupidly good accuracy or just an educated guess, Roy said, “These are for Lili, aren’t they?”

Sue stopped preparing the dough for the next batch and asked, “How did you know?”

“It’s sweet and tastes similar to Sacaen cooking that Lili loves,” Roy explained.

Lilina had the biggest sweet tooth Roy chad ever had the displeasure to witness. She would devour entire cakes by herself somehow. At least Lilina could eat something in the long run…

Lilina always made sure she got the last bite of dessert. She punched, kicked, threw, ran, spell-casted… anything within her reaches just to have a little bit more sweetness in her life.

Nonetheless, Roy was most likely going to ruin Sue’s plan.

She sighed and asked, “Could you please not tell her? I want it to be a surprise”

“Of course I won’t. I’m not going to betray you, Sue.”

That promise felt awfully empty...

Wolt recited the words Sue told him to remember for the millionth time.

“I wanted to give this gift to you as-“

Wolt cut his self off and groaned.

“That sounds too stupid,” he quietly told himself.

“I want to give you this gift since you just became a king. I h-hope-“

He cut himself off once again and sighed.

“I stuttered this time…”

No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t even get out half of the sentences without messing up. He only concluded it would be even worse in front of _Lord Roy._

His perfectionism struck again.

Finding an outfit that looked semi-decent on him was hard, but _this_... _this_ was on a different level...‘I can do this,’ the archer thought to himself.

He knew he couldn’t, but he could try.

All he wanted to do was to get a gift for Roy and give it to him in private during the ball that happened on the night.

Why can’t he do _such a simple task?_

Oh, yeah. Because he had a big crush on him.

Why can’t things be easier for him?

Who could possibly ruin it?

When would it happen?

How was it going to work?

He groaned, put his hands on his face, and fell onto his bed.

He hated it all.

Suddenly, four _very familiar_ knocks stopped his train of thought.

“Come in Lilina,” Wolt said without hesitation.

Lilina opened the door and asked, “Have you seen Roy anywhere?”

“I think he was in the Garden earlier,” Wolt responded.

She thanked him and proceeded to ask, “So what are you doing?”

“Nothing important,” He replied.

Lilina laid down next to him.

“Like what?”

“I was just rehearsing for the ball, that’s all,” Wolt half-lied.

Lilina looked at him weirdly.

“But you already know proper manners and greetings, Wolt”

“A little bit more practice won’t hurt,” He replied with his pillow under him.

Lilina sighed.

“Why don’t you just spend some time for yourself?” She suggested.

“I’m fine, Lili. I need to make a good impression, anyways”

Lilina rolled her eyes and whined, “But it’s not going to stick for long, anyway! People change, Wolt”

“Not me, thou-“

Lilina scoffed, cutting the archer off.

“Then why does Roy complain about you being so distant to him out of the sudden? Why does he have a sad glint in his eye when you call him by his title?” The blunette inquired relentlessly out of nowhere.

That took Wolt by surprise. He knew Roy didn’t like to be called by his status but was he that displeased by being called by his title?

“Lilina, you’re overreacting,” Wolt snapped.

“I may be a drama queen, but I am most certainly not overreacting!” She exclaimed.

“Lili, Roy and I are fine! There is nothing to worry about! Now, if you'll excuse me I’ll-“

“You’re lying,” She stated, cutting him off in the process.

“I’m not lying-“

“Yes you are,” the Lycian princess reaffirmed, standing up from her spot.

“No, I’m not. Why would I lie to you?” Wolt asked, panicking as Lilina might know about his feelings for Roy…

“You. Are. Lying. You’re not going to fool me,” Lilina reassured, now standing right by an argument she wasn’t even sure existed.

“N-no I’m not,” he stuttered.

‘Bingo,’ Lilina thought.

“What are you hiding from me? Tell me!” She demanded.

Wolt blushed hard and said, “T-that’s it! I’m going to the terrace to keep on practicing! Bye, Lilina!”

Before Wolt could even start walking away, Lilina grabbed him by the collar.

“You’re not going anywhere! Spill it!”

Wolt panicked badly, but not enough to _trigger anything serious_, thankfully.

His mind was flooded with thoughts as to what he could say.

“There's someone I fancy going to the ball! There!” He spat out.

Lilina was fooled. She thought she caught Wolt red-handed, but in reality, Wolt just overgeneralized his situation.

Lilina’s face softened.

“So, who is it? Where is she from?” She questioned teasingly.

A lightbulb went off in Wolt’s head. He wasn’t going to play Lilina’s game, he was going to make her play his unknowingly.

_It’s not like that wasn’t going to happen again in the future_.

“As if I’m telling you more,” he fake pouted.

Thank Elimine he took notes on faking emotions from Lilina as well as Lord Eliwood helping him sort out his issues that required an extensive amount of emotion control.

“Tell me!” She whined.

“How about no?”

“Please?” She begged.

He raised an eyebrow.

“I’m still resting on ‘no’”

“Come on Wolt! I’ll help you!”

“No way”

“I’ll give you anything you want!”

“Still no”

Lilina seemed to get a little impatient.

Maybe she could do something about this….

“Is it that Sacean noble?”

“No”

“That one girl from Etrutia?”

“No”

Lilina thought a little bit about it.

Whoever it was, they were going to the ball.

Lilina knew what time it was.

It was Annoy the Hell Out of Roy o'clock.

Or more commonly known as dinner time.

“So, did anything happen, _oh dear brother of mine?_” Lilina asked with the most sickening sweet voice she could muster.

They were sitting right across from each other in solitude; no servant dared to get near them as they could sense a fight stirring up.

“No. Let me eat my damn ravioli,” Roy responded annoyingly.

It was going to be a fight once again…

Lilina fake laughed and exchanged, “I’ll never let you do that, brother”

Roy already knew what was about to go down.

“What do you want now? Haven’t you tortured me enough for the last six years?” He asked.

“You know, the usual. _Your secrets_,” she said after taking a bite out of a breadstick.

“In your dreams”

“Am I not your worst nightmare?”

“Not anymore,” he growled.

“Oh? How come?”

“I have other things to worry about and _your insufferable attitude isn’t one of them_,” the boy snapped.

“I’m always one of your worries, oh dear brother of mine. How about you just tell me who that person is so you can just go about your day?” Lilina tried to bargain.

Roy stabbed another piece of Ravioli and stated, “No, I am not. Now please shut up; this is one of the small breaks I get today”

True; the crown prince is always busy… though he has enough time to sleep. Why does the prince look like he’s about to faint from exhaustion, though?

“I will when you tell me who is dear to your heart”

“Never”

Lilina snarled.

She needed to know this. This type of knowledge could help her plan out something.

This could’ve ended in a much better way for both of them in this situation; unfortunately, they’re both standing in opposite roads of the same path.

“Stubborn, aren’t we? Alright then, I’ll force it out of you”

Lilina stood up from her velvet seat with a smirk on her face.

Roy wasn’t getting the peaceful dinner he desperately wanted.

“I tried but I couldn’t!” Wolt whined as Sue placed the flowers she had bought earlier into a beautiful vase.

Both green-haired archers were in Wolt’s room. Sue has finished her business in the kitchen and Wolt was… well… writing in his ‘diary’ again.

Let’s just keep the description at that.

“Just talk to him! You two have known each other for your entire lives…! Just talk to him like you used to!” Sue reasoned as she organized the flowers in a specific way. She

needed them to compliment the frosting of the multiple pastries she had baked for Lilina.

“I… I can’t…. I just can’t anymore…” Wolt embarrassingly admitted.

It just wasn’t the same.

It wasn’t the same.

_He_ wasn’t the same.

_Roy_ wasn’t the same.

“How come? It shouldn’t be that hard… just call him by his name alone…” Sue suggested.

“That’s the problem…”

That took Sue by surprise.

“You can’t call him by his name alone?”

“N-no… it’s just that I used to have a nickname for him… you know... forget it”

“A nickname? Which is...?”

“Can we please not talk about this?”

“It shouldn’t be that bad, Wolt. You’re fine. Just tell me”

Wolt sighed deeply and surrendered the embarrassing name he had for Roy when he was younger, “Nor”

“Nor?” Sue inquired.

Wolt sighed once again, crimson blush on his face.

“Roy’s middle name is _Eleanor_. When I was younger, I couldn’t pronounce it, so I just called him by Nor instead”

“.... so that makes his full name Roy Eleanor Pherae-Ostia? Talk about a mouthful…”

“Well… kind of I guess...”

Wolt wasn’t looking so good. He looked so… sad.

“Why the long face?”

“Don’t fret it… I’m just overthinking…”

Of course, sue knew a few things about Wolt’s past, but not the entirety. She knew he was transgender, but nothing too much beyond that.

The only thing that was telling her that there was something wrong was _his wording_.

Sue put down what she was doing and sat down with the younger archer, who looked a little... saddened...

“Wolt, what’s wrong?”

“I… I can't say it… I don’t know if Lord Roy would let me”

“Wolt, anything is safe with me. I.. I won’t mutter anything to a single soul, I promise”

Wolt looked st Sue and hesitated to tell her.

_Lord Roy_ would not be at all pleased if _his vassal_ were to tell only a companion of his, for which he met during a war for political purposes, were to know the unspoken truth of the former marquess’ affairs.

_Nor_ on the other hand, would appreciate if his friend were to know what happened long ago; a secret only told to those deemed close enough to his heart, of which Sue was.

_Lord Roy and Nor where two different people._

Wolt knew that his Nor was long gone after the marriage of Lord Eliwood and Lord Hector.

Only Lord Roy emerged from that and now he was stuck in a predicament

The archer couldn’t handle it anymore; two vastly different people required differently of him.

The weight of both sides tearing his own soul apart after each reminder of the sweetest memories and the toughest of moments.

“The reason why I’m so in love with Roy is because… it’s because he helped me through so much…!” Wolt admitted, hands trying to hide his face from embarrassment.

“H-He and Lord Eliwood both took me into their arms when they were going through _so much grief_ in comparison to mine… They just took me in from nowhere…!” He said

as the older archeress held him.

Wolt couldn’t take it anymore; even though he was breaking his oath, Nor wouldn’t mind. _He believed he was lost within all the unfair expectations of the heir of the mighty kings._

“They… they both did so much for me… they had both just lost Lady Mark… I don’t know why they still took me in within all the stress they had…!”

That caught Sue's attention

“Lady Mark? Who is that?”

“Lady Mark was Lord Eliwood’s first love. Although I can barely remember her, she used to be so kind. She… she always took care of Roy when Lord Eliwood couldn’t… and when her time was up… both Lord Eliwood and Lord Roy looked so distraught…! I…”

Sue had never heard of Lord Eliwood’s first marriage. It was something she had to keep in mind...

"Shh... It's fine... calm down a bit, okay?" Sue suggested.

Wolt nodded, looking across the room to see the bouquet of flowers Sue was arranging.

He had a bad feeling he had just messed up big time...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kept my promise.  
1 chapter per month see y’all in a few weeks :)  
Nah might do a double update I’ll see further into that...


	4. Fear and Facts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sleeping is hard. Like, you can be possessed by some demon and wake up just fine in the morning... or just not be able to fall asleep. Either one applies for our protagonists.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said “Hey I may upload twice this month” and then decided to split this chapter into two because... writing another 1000+ words is fun!  
Nevertheless, please enjoy as always :)

##### [Preface Arc]:

###### [The Stained Glass]

**[Part IV] / [Chapter 4]:**

### Fear and Facts

“Do as you wish, Prince. It’s what you wanted, right?” Two emotion-void eyes asked.  
The voice boomed throughout the chamber; a chamber only those proved worthy could enter.  
Many people wished to even see it, but to Roy, it was nothing but a torture to spectate.  
It was nothing more but a bloody hell only the greedy wished for  
“N-no… this was never what I wanted”  
“You do nothing but use your power for your foolish desire. What would your parents say?” The venomous voice spat.  
Nothing but anger sought through the echoes of it on the chamber.  
The _voice_ had a vendetta against him.  
It wished the ignorant child hadn’t interfered with her malevolent plans.  
Roy stayed silent. It was the best course of action.  
The voice sounded louder to him as its source came closer.  
“You aspire to be as great as Lord Eliwood and Lady Mark, yet you can’t do anything they could do!”  
He stayed silent once again, only the voice echoing through the empty halls of the castle beyond humans’ reach.  
Coercion and trickery; only someone who wasn’t as naive would understand.  
Roy had played right into her hand and it was far too late to even think of backing out.  
“You betrayed your kind! If your true intentions weren’t unveiled by the Binding Blade, Iduun would be dead for good!”  
Tears threatened to fall.  
This place had nothing to be pursued after.  
His tormentor just kept on walking towards his direction.  
“Can’t you get it in your stupid, delusional, thick head you have? You betrayed my orders! Now you’ve got to bring me the child!”  
“I am not doing what you want! I’m done with all you’ve done to me! I am not going to do your bidding just because I have less power than you have!”  
Tears were falling.  
Falling into the horrible grounds of a place of massacre and genocide.  
Only to be lost with the other wails and cries of the _other_ puppets.  
“Stop acting like a child! No one can protect you from the reality of the world! If Nini and those damned divine dragons hadn’t crossed the thin border between humans and dragons, none of this would’ve happened!”  
To be held accountable for your own bloodline’s actions; unfair isn’t even the tip of the iceberg  
“It wasn’t their fault-!”  
“Those three deserved to die! Nini only lead to the possibility of a political dispute over the reign of my tribe and those damned divine dragons should’ve never gone to Elibe To fall in love with some idiotic humans and end up with their powers corrupted!”  
Roy knew the voice was right.  
_It was always right._  
He couldn’t do anything about it.  
“It seems as if falling pathetically in love with someone you should not meddle with is in your damned blood, prince!”  
“Why do you blame it all on me then?! What did I do?! I never did anything-“ he cried out.  
“You should have killed Iduun! She is the only threat to our kind right now! Get off your high horse and just accept she has to die!”  
“No she doesn’t there is another way-!“  
“You idiot! There is no other way! I am going to fade away without a heir! My tribespeople will die the way the divine dragons did because of you!”  
“They won’t! If you hadn’t scared away your daughter none of this would’ve happened! You made the same mistake Iduun’s father did and now it’s costing you the same! I didn’t do it! It wasn’t my fault! It was yours! If you gods weren’t so apathetic-“  
“Shut up, child! You have to voice to speak over me and you never will or ever did! If you had listened to me in the first place about Iduun’s power then I wouldn’t be over here trying to get rid of you! You’re so damned lucky you have connections with Nini and if not I wouldn’t skip a heartbeat to kill you!”  
Silence.  
The only sound is the echo of a shrill voice and the tears hitting the ground.  
“You only seem to cause trouble wherever you go. Eliwood should’ve never given you the prophecy to begin with. Three human children shouldn’t be trusted with the unimaginable powers their irresponsible grandmothers accidentally gave them,” the voice spat full of anger.  
He knew who the deity wanted.  
He didn’t want to do it.  
He now regretted everything.  
He hated _it_.  
“Nini should have never went away with a human of all things… I guess she was as stupid as you are. You have so many opportunities as she had before she left… yet you two choose to be foolish and pursue love for some bullshit reason”  
Roy wanted to speak out once again, yet he couldn’t.  
He had pushed his boundaries already.  
The deity sighed angrily and announced, “This meeting is over. You better do as I told you to. Bring back the childlike I’ve told you to. If you don’t, word will come out and the Dragon’s Gate will collapse due to the chaos that can ensue within its limits. Do not let me down, Prince Roy. Prove to me you won’t disappoint me the way Eliwood and Roland did all those years ago”

Wolt seemed to never drift to sleep.  
He had too much on his mind.  
Too much debt to repay.  
So much debt that he had owed to Lord Eliwood… yet it was too late to pay him back for all his kind efforts.  
_The ones that made him only made him want the greediest of desires._  
At a young age, his mothers died.  
One by the name of Rebecca, an archer who devoted herself to Lord Eliwood after saving her village decades ago. The one he took his appearance after.  
And Ninian, a dancer that went along with both of them in a treacherous journey to end an evildoing in Elibe.  
His mothers were happy, even when they were close to death.  
No one could stop them from loving their only child.  
He remembered vividly; games, festivals, cooking, fun ... _dancing…._  
After their death, Lord Eliwood took no time in taking him in.  
At first, Wolt was skeptical.  
He always wondered why Lord Eliwood just… never gave him up.  
He was nothing but a burden that would only become heavier over time.  
Marcus made him believe it was because he was Roy’s close friend and only that alone.  
Wolt was nothing other than that.  
He never was someone with true talent.  
He would never be as skilled with a bow as his mother ever was.  
He could never dance as gracefully as his mom.  
As long as he could, he tried. Countless times in his room trying to learn balance and even fought a war with his bow.  
Yet, his attempts were futile. Sue always did better with a bow than he ever did and Lalum knew how to keep her balance effortlessly.  
Everyone else outshined him; why stay in the front lines when other people could do his job with half the effort and twice the reward?  
Why did Lord Eliwood keep him close to him? Why would he comfort him at nights after terrible nightmares?  
He never knew the answer to those questions.  
He had nothing to offer.  
Lord Eliwood just held onto him tight.  
Even the nobles questioned his _‘antics’._  
And then… there’s Roy.  
At first, they were inseparable; they had clung to each other tightly no matter the situation.  
Then something happened.  
It almost ended their friendship altogether.  
He really wished _the marriage_ hadn’t happened.  
Before, he had never called Roy by his actual name.  
He had nicknamed him Nor, as his middle name was Eleanor.  
That’s the person which he fell deeply in love with.  
Someone that he only missed more and more as years flew right by.  
The elegant, graceful, diligent, handsome son of the Marquess of Pherae.  
But then it all changed with the marriage.  
Roy became distant.  
He was far too busy to pay attention to him, only making Wolt wish for his presence more and more despite it being… _wrong._  
Wolt didn’t just want to tag along with Roy in his political doings. He wanted Roy to stay with him for a while in the garden like they did when they were children.  
Of course, it never happened.  
Only another foolish desire he wanted; one that made him only lonelier and lonelier as Roy had more duties stacked on top of his shoulders.  
Then when he thought about it, that’s when it hit him.  
Roy was a different person from Nor; Roy was strict, good-behaved, well-mannered, cold, and spoke in a commanding voice.  
Nor was playful, cheerful, kind, compassionate, diligent, lively….  
He had changed because of everything that had transpired; a mask to fool the nobility.  
As this went on, his foolish crush on his best friend only grew bigger, and more obvious as he spent less and less time with him.  
It was far too obvious for Lord Eliwood.  
As the last Marquess of Pherae, he had a keen eye for subtleties.  
The harsh questioning he got from the elder swordsman out of the blue one day...  
Of course, at the end of the day, he got help from Lord Eliwood; he always remembered the last words he ever spoke to him clear as crystal in his mind.  
_Trust in your visions._ All he could see though were crystals and flames.  
It was.. wrong…  
Abhorrent.  
Peace was achieved, right?  
Roy ended the war… why were there flames though?  
The glass?  
Was it a metaphor?  
Or was it a glimpse at the future like the times before?  
It kept Wolt restless.  
He remembers this particular vision clearly; out of nowhere flames erupted and he felt someone push him. Hard.  
_As if they were trying to get him out of danger._  
He hit the wall.  
Then a scream.  
Or was it a laugh?  
Was it him or someone else who did that?  
He didn’t know at all.  
Visions could only tell him so much…  
He didn’t know what to do with such power.  
It was more like a torture.  
Then why would Lord Eliwood tell him they were right?  
Why tell him to keep them a secret?  
The visions he had would’ve been helpful during the war.  
It could’ve prevented injuries! Mourning! Loss!  
… yet he couldn’t speak of it.  
It was an _order_, not a choice.  
Sophia could also see into the future and she could speak of it, but why not him?  
Why couldn’t he just speak out for once?  
Be useful?  
It tormented him. His powers were to be hidden from sight.  
It killed him to think that he couldn’t even tell Roy, even if his life depended on it.  
He needed answers… but from who?  
In the end, it didn’t matter.  
He was still as useless as he would always be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I <3 foreshadowing so just keep that in mind ;)


	5. From Good to Bad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ... sleepless nights also apply for Sue and Lilina. They’re not getting off easy on this one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Useless fact:  
I wrote this and last chapter in comic sans
> 
> Diya 2020 fact:  
It's easier to write in Comic Sans. Sadly, it doesn't stop me from cringing big time while editing chapters 4 and 5 *shudders*

##### [Preface Arc]: 

###### [The Stained Glass] 

### [Part V] / [Chapter 5]: From Good to Bad

Lilina couldn’t fall asleep that night.  
She just couldn’t.  
For weeks it had been like this.  
Lost in the realm of dreams and thoughts  
Even with the most luxurious bed and the silkiest of sheets, she could never forgive or forget.  
As much as she tried to imagine what her dad would’ve said to her if he were in her arms when he muttered his last words… she could probably have accepted reality much sooner.  
Yet she would never know what he could’ve possibly said.  
He had died on a bloody battlefield when she was trapped in a damned cage… if she hadn’t gone to Ostia, none of her current grief would be present..  
She couldn’t fall asleep as her heart always hurt; It had a gaping hole within it because of her dad’s death.  
Nobody could ever fill up that empty void.  
Only revenge could occupy that space.  
It seemed illogical and rash, but that’s all she needs to avenge what he stood for.  
Her dad… she remembered him fondly… a man she always looked up to. Someone she aspired to be. Someone who she wanted to make proud… gone by time’s cruel grasp.  
She could remember getting out of her place of captivity, only to see her brother uneasy at her sight.  
He broke the news, and only the world seemed to fall apart.  
Not her... yet.  
She fought alongside Roy; quietly and patiently defeating their foes under the shadow cast by her stepbrother.  
She didn’t mind though.  
She would rather stay unknown rather than to bathe in the attention millions of people like Roy did.  
The Alliance slowly, but steadily, made their way across the continent of Elibe; fighting various battles at Roy’s dismay.  
Of course, Lilina was there to fight alongside Roy and guide him when he needed such a thing. He was talented, but only because he put an absurd amount of effort into his strategies.  
He spent many restless nights and busy days making sure everyone was accommodated on their journey.  
In due time, they confronted Zephiel and Iduun to put a stop to the bloodshed Bern would continue to do if Zephiel’s actions were kept unchecked.  
They risked their lives; something that Lilina thought was odd for something more than just money and fame. Of course, you can have a belief, but why fight for the belief that dragons should be kept in the Dragon’s Gate? Why keep an entirely different race in an entirely different place?  
Entitlement. That’s why.  
Humans were greedy. They want power, they’ll conquer their kind and exploit them for their own benefit.  
Dragons are no exception.  
Humans felt that their power was being taken away and they declared war on a different race.  
Thankfully, Roy had an actual goal; to stop Bern. It was rare for someone to have a thought-out plan to gain an incentive, but Roy did so.  
And she had achieved her goal; to get blissful revenge against those who killed her dad.  
Then only to go to Ostia and get word back from Roy…. her father was also dead.  
Well, her step-father.  
She only grew up in her dad’s arms. It was only him and her… or so she thought.  
After the visit where she met Roy for the first time, her dad told her something she held close to her always; kept well hidden from sight due to her heritage.  
Two things to be reckoned with, as they both held unprecedented power.  
_She was not human._  
_Nor was she a monster._  
Yet everyone welcomed her with the brightest of smiles and highest courtesy.  
If they knew what she had, they would leave her in exile within a heartbeat.  
The townsfolk didn't know what crimes they had to their leader and their own tribe.  
It only fueled her rage to fight away the evil doings of mankind.  
She did not want to become the villain to her brother, but if she had to do it, she will.  
Though… Roy is quite the peculiar person.  
He believed so much in humankind… he was compassionate and showed kindness to the people of Elibe without a second thought of how they had a prejudice against dragons.  
She loathed it.  
She loathed it all.  
Humans didn’t deserve this kind of treatment. Maybe if they hadn’t been so greedy and let dragons use their power freely none of these wars and painful wounds would’ve happened.  
Roy was lost as to how he should process the sides of the war, but for her it was easy.  
She wanted to go with the dragons’ side. To aid them. To give them a hand.  
She agreed with Zephiel’s beliefs, but she didn’t accept his way of handling and executing his ways or of nowhere to those around him.  
Unlike Zephiel, she had a plan.  
Zephiel was arrogant and stupid. He only sought revenge for his own with no one else to agree.  
Her, on the other hand, can certainly get the votes of those beyond the gate.  
A sly smile came to her face as she remembered what she would do.  
She would bring justice forth.  
_Even if blood had to be shed on the holy grounds of Castle Pherae._  


On the opposite side of the path, there was a heavenly place to be sought after.  
“You know why I called you here,” the mother spoke, her voice full of kindness.  
“Yes, Mother Earth, is it about the dispute of the dragons again?” Sue asked.  
“Correctly, my child. It seems like you might just fall into the pit of trouble alongside your friends over here”  
“How come, Mother? The only connections we have with their kind are Iduun, Sophia, and Fae”  
“As I came to find out, it all ties back together by blood. This might cause an even bigger war than the first,” The Mother warned.  
“By blood? There are even more connections to the dragons as we initially thought?” Sue inquired.  
“Yes, child. I thought Nini’s disappearance might be unimportant as we might find their respective heirs in the future, and I fear we did,” The Mother said, as she stood up and motioned Sue to come with her.  
They entered a beautiful castle. One that Sue had seen countless times before when speaking with the goddess.  
“As I’ve told you in the past, Iduun is the other daughter of Zeus, the second ruler of the divine dragons. Their cousin is Fae, whose father is presumed dead and the dragon you met throughout your travels with Prince Roy and Princess Lilina. You do remember that information, right?” The Mother asked.  
“Of course, Mother. I remember you also told me about the Ice Tribe as well. Khione was their leader and Nini was her only daughter, correct?”  
“Yet again, you’re correct, Sue. As I mentioned before, Nini and Iduun ran away; Iduun got captured and Fae was hidden in the Nabata desert under strict protection until she is the age she can rule”  
“That’s all you’ve told me so far, but how does this relate to our current situation?”  
“Your friend Wolt, was it? You asked him to speak to me or my husband, correct?”  
Sue remembered that from earlier in the day  
“Yes. He’s clueless as to what he should give Prince Roy for his coronation. I thought you might be able to give him some sort of sign, but you didn’t. Did something happen?”  
Mother Earth sighed and was forced to admit, “The last thing I want to happen is those two from getting into some sort of trouble by getting together”  
“What do you mean, mother?”  
“That’s where Nini comes into play; our sources are telling us he might be the descendant of Khione. Although we are not entirely sure, it may come about time the Ice Tribe will send someone to hunt him down.”  
Sue was a little bit shocked.  
“What? That’s impossible! You did say that Nini had two children, so what about her other child?”  
“That’s the problem. They only know of Ninian’s - Nini’s eldest - whereabouts. Her other child, Nils, did come back, but eventually, he was swayed away by a human. We are not aware of what happened to him in the human world, but we just inferred that the same sickness hit him and eventually he had to pass away,” The Mother explained.  
“So if Wolt were to marry the king of a human country, would that create confusion and chaos throughout the Dragon’s Gate?”  
“It’s even worse than that. It may end up with a feud between the different tribes of dragons”  
“The _other_ dragons as well? What happened?”  
The Mother knew it was harmful information to know, but might as well tell her vassal for now.  
“Prince Roy is under the command of some divine entity for which we are not sure the motivations. We believe it may be Fae’s father by a slim chance, maybe seeking revenge for Iduun having the chance of taking the throne and daring to decline it when he wanted it most”  
Sue thought for a second.  
“So there might be a chance Fae’s father takes hold over Roy and kill Iduun during the ball happening after the ceremony?”  
“Precisely, child,” The Mother stated.  
“By the name of Elimine we already have the threat of Khione and now another blood-thirsty god?!”  
“I fear so, Sue. Some deities tend to be a bit petty when it comes to getting what we wish for. Fae’s father was no different; after he lost to Zeus he went haywire and tried to reclaim his throne despite him being foolish enough to even bet”  
“If he hadn’t imagined how little trouble we may have had right now…”  
“I suppose in some alternate reality Iduun would be leading the divine dragons and Nini would’ve stayed in the Dragon’s Gate… but alas; we are stuck here for now,” The Mother lamented.  
“Are there any orders for me to take on this situation?” Asked Sue.  
“Yes, Sue. I would like for you to watch over Iduun, Fae, and Sophia. I know your comrades will already be partaking in this but I know she will not be enough to take on Prince Roy if what we said is true”  
“Alright, Mother. I’ll be sure to keep a tab on all of them,” Sue reassured.  
“Thank you, Sue. I have to cut off this conversation now. I will tell you more details on this ordeal tomorrow after the coronation of Prince Roy. It is now time for you to wake up, as today will be the day you have to make your decision once and for all. I wish you the best of luck.”  
As sunlight shone down, making its way to the stone ground, Sue knew what she had to do as it was the day she _had_ to pick a side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I regret making this into a multi-chapter fanfic.... Oh well I already planned out some important things and a few (“seemingly unimportant”) filler chapters for the later arcs...


	6. For the Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After an eventful night full of dreams, ambitions, and bad omens, it is now early in the morning. There are some errands to be run, third-wheeling two people, and some minor flirting (?).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I slacked off during December because... Tamales. Yeah, that's my excuse. I just wanted to eat a shit-ton of tamales and be happy because I got a new computer. Then January I also Slacked off, I'm sorry ;-;  
Please enjoy this chapter... I plan to put up another one in a few days... sorry for the lack of polished writing...

##### [Preface Arc]:

###### [The Stained Glass]

**[Part VI] / [Chapter 6]:**

### For the Future

After the horrible encounter with the deity during the night, Roy had another high-power figure to address… after getting the reports back from Lance, Alen, and Sin.“Why did I have to go with these two again, Lord Roy?” Sin asked, motioning to Lance and Alen.

“Because you three other than me knew where I hid Maltet and the Binding Blade. Speaking of which, where are they?”

“Right here, Lord Roy!” Lance said as he picked up the box in which the lance of ice hid.

“Lord Roy, why did you ask for the weapons, though? The war ended a year ago,” Alen asked, out of curiosity.

“I’ll explain once General Klein and Queen Guinevere arrive, alright?”

“Of course, milord”

“Can I leave now? I want to get as far away from those irresponsible devils as soon as possible,” Sin grieved.

“Go ahead. I’m going to be taking care of these two either way,” Roy responded.

Sin left without a sound, only leaving Roy and his two retainers.

“So… Why did Sin complain about you two?”

“He’s just being whiny… we didn’t do anything!” Allen reasoned.

“He was just joking to get out of here… _or so I hope…_” Lance trailed.

Roy sighed and said, “It’s fine. Follow me, please.”

They left the meeting room and while they walked to their destination, Roy made small talk.

“Did anything go wrong? Was the ride alright?” Roy inquired.

“It was pleasant. We didn’t even have to use any weapons to threaten anyone,” Alan said proudly.

“The villagers weren’t nosy, luckily…” Lance trailed.

Roy and his guards took a turn and there it was; the Stained Glass.

It was a small room that was made only to celebrate the new era that will come to be thanks to King Eliwood and King Hector.

It was beautiful in the day but elegant, and sort of _magical_, during the night.

This was the place where Roy tried to forget everything that had happened during the past year.

Roy looked back at Lance and Allen and said, “Over here.”

The prince made a small walk to a very specific place in the room: A space right by a statue where the stone was covered by the velvet-red carpet that ran from the entrance to the room to where the glass was at.

Roy crouched down and lifted the carpet. There it was. A small gap between the floor and the small stone that hid a secret compartment.

“Lord Roy, no offense, but this is the worst place to hide a weapon,” Allen criticized.

Following up, Lance said, “I agree with him, m’lord. Maybe we should have someone of trust to hide them for you.”

Roy’s eyes lit up and responded, “It would be a bad place _if_ I hadn’t given orders to only tidy up the statues and leave anything else in place.”

“M’lord, but why? Why do we need these weapons here?” Allen inquired yet again.

Roy, with the case that contained the Dragonbind in hand, put it in the small hidden compartment, and afterward replied, “Bad gut feeling. Don’t worry; I’ll explain after the diplomacies arrive.”

“As you say, m’lord. If you don’t mind me asking, what about Maltet…?” Lance asked.

“Over there,” Roy responded, pointing to the opposite side of the room, which was the same as the side they were currently on.

After Roy was done with the Binding Blade, he took Maltet from Alen’s arms and did the same process, but in complete silence.

“Alright… I guess that’s it for right now,” Roy broke the ice, “I’ve got to get ready for later, now please, could you two handle the arrivals? I’ve got a hectic schedule right now…”

“Of course, Lord Roy,” Lance said with glee.

Not skipping a second, Alen agreed, “If he goes, so will I.”

“Thank you. I’ll be headed to my room if you need me to take care of anything”

Roy smiled.

“I’ll see you two later,” He said and started to walk out, leaving Lance and Alen behind.

The prince hesitated to leave at the door, so to compensate he turned and waved at both of his retainers.

His smile persisted, but his eyes showed that it was more forced than genuine.

Alen took note of that, as he knew an archer who could take care of that.

“That trip was purely made up of awful,” Sin complained as he cracked his neck.

“I can tell by your tone. What was so bad about it, though?” Sue inquired as she was organizing the batch of cookies from the day before.

Sin sat down in the chair of the guest room that was provided by Lord Roy for Sue to stay in and responded, “First of all, they wouldn’t shut up. Second, they made _awful_ decisions. Finally, on top of not shutting up, they were loud as hell”

Sue chuckled.

“This is why you don’t trust Roy when it comes to partnerships outside of political issues. He’s a capable leader, but not _too_ empathetic

“Tell me about it,” Sin sighed.

Out of thin air, Wolt appeared and asked whilst behind the door, “Sue I still need help.”

Sue quickly turned around and Sin just stared, almost as if they were caught doing a crime.

“Bad timing?” Wolt blurted out quickly out of embarrassment.

“No, no, it’s fine. You just caught us by surprise,” Sue clarified.

Sin, now having processed Wolt’s magic tricks, said with a tinge of worry, “You didn’t hear anything I said right?”

Sue saw something that caught her attention, and so she stood up and looked out the window.

“I did,” he responded as he took up the other chair in the room, “I won’t tell, though. I know how those two _knuckleheads_ can get.”

“Thank you, Wolt. At least _someone_ else around here is reliable,” the longer-haired gentleman complimented.

“Well, you shouldn’t lean on me too much. I’m not the greatest ‘support beam’ if you catch my drift,” Wolt responded matter-of-factly.

“I say otherwise. So far you’ve done more than Lance and Alen did during the trip-

“Stop flirting, you two. We’ve got a bigger problem than I thought,” Sue teasingly interrupted, as she saw the people attending the ceremony arrived.

Wolt and Sin went to the window as they watched the waves of nobles start to get off.

“Better get used to noise, you two,” Sue informed them, as she could already hear the nobles’ complaints three floors above them.

“Just what I needed,” Sin grunted.

“It won’t be too bad… I hope,” Wolt thought out loud as he saw some… _incompetent_ figures of power.

“No need to worry so much! They’re just people, you know? They can’t be _that_ bad,” Sue scoffed.

“Oh, _they are_,” Wolt replied.

“Sue, with all due respect, nobles are awful. They take advantage of their heritage and use it to do wrongdoings that turn into profit that goes right into their pockets,” Sin counterargued.

“The other week I heard an Etrutian noble claimed that a slip of paper he sold would grant them ascension. Thank Saint Elimine General Cecilia was nearby to stop him,” Wolt agreed.

Sue rolled her eyes and moved on from that, “Alright, point proven. Nevertheless, why did you even come here, Wolt?”

Wolt eye’s lit up and he proceeded to take something out of his pocket, “ Sue, do you think you could help me fix this?” He said as he opened a small pouch to reveal a necklace and an oval-shaped green gemstone.

The gem sparkled nicely against the sunshine and the necklace was made of silver. The archeress knew what she had to do as soon as she saw the damage.

Meanwhile, Sin narrowed his eyes with suspicion.

“What happened to it?” she asked as she took the necklace from Wolt’s hand.

“I don’t know. I just found it like this…” He admitted.

“Whoever did that must’ve been a mage. There is no way that gem got out that cleanly without causing damage,” Sin commented as Sue assessed the piece of jewelry.

“... Where did you get this from?” Sue said, puzzled.

“I found it in the attic while looking for this,” Wolt pointed at the small ribbon on his outfit, “and I accidentally found this as well.”

“Well, I’ll be damned… No wonder why you would want to repair this. It looks awfully expensive…” Sin trailed, trying to do the numbers in his head.

“No! That’s not what I want it for!” Wolt exclaimed, taken aback.

“Well then, if not for profit, what do you want it for?” Sue questioned.

“I wanted to give it to Lord Roy. I think he would like it back”

Sue took a step forward and looked at both Sin and Wolt, “We should go get this fixed. Luckily, it shouldn’t take that long. I know who can help us”

“Oh hello there, you three,” Lilina greeted as she saw the trio of a hopeful Wolt, a more-or-less determined Sue and an irritated Sin.

“Good morning, Lady Lilina. Could you help us out for a second here,” Sue asked, demeanor changomg from serious to a sweet tone.

Wolt was envious. He wished he could manage his emotions around Roy….

“Sure!” The princess piped up, “What do you need?”

“Could you, by chance, do some weird magic thing to fix this?” Sue said as she took the necklace out of the pouch Wolt found it in.

Lilina looked confused, “I thought this was forever lost,” she said as she inspected it, “Roy told me that he tried looking for this. Where did you find it?”

Sue nudged Wolt, for which he explained, “I was trying to find an ornament for my outfit and I found it by chance. I wanted to give it back to him.”

“Tch. This is easy. First thing General Cecilia taught me to do while I studied in Ostia,” the mage said, trying to sound impressive.

... It worked.

Sue raised an eyebrow, “Oh, really now, oh great magician?”

“Should we leave?” Wolt whispered to Sin, seeing that the two women were now in a conversation.

“I have no idea,” the taller archer responded.

“Of course I actually can, Sue. Nothing can stop me from using my magic, including this small necklace,” She bluffed.

“Alright then. How long will it take you?” Sue asked.

Before Lilina could finish her sentence, Sin, having the guts, interrupted.

“If you don’t mind us, we will leave. You two have fun while we finish up preparing,” he nonchalantly interjected.

Sue rolled her eyes, “Go forth. I’ll give you the necklace once it's repaired, Wolt.”

“Alright. I’ll see both of you later,” Wolt responded.

Sue made a ‘get out of here’ gesture and the archers complied. Of course, they closed the door since they have good manners.

“What in the name of hell was that?” Sin asked as they started walking down the hallway towards the stairs.

Wolt shrugged, “Girls are weird.”

Sin chuckled at his irony while making his way down the stairs, “Seriously?”

“Well, why do you think I’m like this right now?” Wolt informed with a small smirk, in pursuit of Sin.

“You’re getting better at this out-of-nowhere casual talk,” Sin complimented.

“Really? I thought what I said was stupid,” Wolt responded with a slight laugh.

“More or less. At least you didn’t blush like last time,” Sin contrasted.

“I guess that’s a step up and not down, unlike what we’re doing,” he joked.

“Haha very funny, Sir Situational Puns,” Sin said with heavy irony.

Wolt smiled, “Oh, I know. I am aware of it. I’m proficient at doing jokes like this.”

Both of them laughed.

Of course, the day was far from over. They still had people to greet, outfits to pick out, dance moves to remember, gifts to give, and most important, Roy’s ceremony.

Unfortunately, only embarrassment awaits the quartet of heroes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> August 2020 Diya here. I am going to edit chapters 4 and 5 later because whoooo boyyyy those need quite a few changes, but for now I'll fix the formatting issues in the rest of the chapters-


	7. Far From Sight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day goes forth with quite a few things to do. Roy and Wolt are now alone in Roy's room for the first time in a long while. Of course, as all semi-decent stories go, there is drama.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said Valentine's, I wasn't kidding for the most part. This chapter was somewhat easy to make, which was unusual. I guess those old drafts in my phone's notes did help out after all :)

##### [Preface Arc]:

###### [The Stained Glass]

**[Part VII] / [Chapter 7]:**

### Far From Sight

The _early_ morning had gone so great, such a shame the _late_ morning was awful.

Lilina and Sue were ready to start the repair on the necklace, but it wasn’t as simple as just heading to their location.

You see, although Sue doesn’t like meddling in other people’s affairs, Lilina always gets the latest tea, and therefore, they just had to listen to Lilina’s craving for news.

The mood within the castle was more on the positive side than the negative side, and now with lots of guests over, they had a lot of greeting to also do on their way to the library was Lilina’s spellbook hid in.

Buried deep within the hundreds of conversations of the buzzing nobles, there was an argument.

Lilina and Sue, unluckily, were the ones to witness the chaos.

They were walking out on the hallway, looking for the supply room to get a few things for the repair, but as they walked down they heard Roy and Wolt talking.

“What do you think they’re doing in there?” Sue asked.

“I don’t know; those two are unpredictable,” Lilina responded quietly.

“Haven’t you known them for 6 years now?”

Lilina quickly thought of how to explain the relationship between her and the two idiots, and with that, she responded, “Yes, I have known them for 6 years now, but despite that, they do random, idiotic decisions. I would've needed to have been around them my entire life to figure out the pattern of their actions.”

She thought they were finally on a good note after the small confrontation they had about titles and such, but oh boy was she incredibly wrong.

What she thought was happening was in stark contrast to reality.

They both got near the room that was the source of the commotion and took a peek inside, as Roy was awful at closing doors despite being a talented leader.

“I know, I know. I should take care of myself but I also need to get stuff done Wolt, even if there are some serious side effects,” Roy said as he put a feather and ink in his bag, well, more of a purse, but Lilina wanted to be nice.

“Lord Roy, you just pointed out the issue. You just can’t go on just on a measly 4 hours of sleep and expect to be fine!” Wolt exclaimed, with his eyebrows indicating he was getting angry.

Lilina now wished she had popcorn. She should’ve gotten some when she had woken up earlier.

Nevertheless, the young mage and the quiet archeress kept spectating the conversation.

“I’m going to be fine, I have done this before- “

Before Roy could finish his sentence, Wolt interrupted, “Lord Roy, what do you mean you have done this before?! Do you know how unhealthy that sounds?!”

Wolt sounded exactly like Lord Eliwood once he found out Roy was injured.

Roy, on the other hand, looked a little taken back, but he persevered.

“Wolt, I said can do what I want. Don’t worry about it”

“Lord Roy, your father wouldn’t forgive me if I just let you get away with bad habits like this!”

The self-awareness from both of them was painful.

“Wolt, my father is dead and he wouldn’t worry about this type of stuff. If he didn't, he would be a hypocrite.”

Wolt sighed, “You’re being cold, Lord Roy”

“I am fine. I don’t need to rest, and frankly, no one cares about this. You’re the only person who remotely even cares about my well being”

Roy kept on getting some of his stuff ready in his quarters; looking through the organized mess of papers, supplies, and other small items.

Wolt sat across from him; legs crossed and growing even madder.

“My Lord, you need to take a break. It’s unhealthy for you to be fighting, practicing, reading, and commanding. You cannot just do all these things without even giving the

overall picture a second glance,” Wolt said, with mild concern in his voice

As Roy stacked up some important-looking papers, he snapped back, “I get it; you’re supposed to protect me and what-not, but stop calling me by my title, I’ve told you numerous times”

He sounded aggravated and unsurprisingly, tired.

It was uncharacteristic of him to argue with Wolt about this situation due to the archer’s stubbornness.

In retrospect, both Wolt and Roy were being contradicting and dismissive; that’s why they even got in such a big fight.

“Lord Roy, I’ve also told you numerous times this conversation was settled. I am your vassal and I’m here to serve you”

Roy put aside the papers and huffed, “No, you’re not. You’re my friend; my best friend. Why can’t you understand that?”

“Lord Roy, why can’t you understand I am here to serve you?!”

Lilina was sitting down by now, just ever-so-casually eavesdropping.

“Wolt, cut it with that nonsense! I don’t want you to keep on calling me Lord Roy! Just call me Roy for Elimine’s sake!”

‘_Shit’s about to go down…,_’ Lilina thought to herself as Roy rarely ever used religious speak. 

He was never the one to care about the church.

See, Elibe isn’t just about figuring out what to do with dragons, hell, one of the major reasons dragons were sealed in the gate was because they believed in different gods.

Nowadays, it’s now three different people telling the same story with slight differences and voila, just like that Elibe gets three major religions with heavy discussion.

“M’lord, I’ve told you, no. That is the way it is and you have to accept it!” Wolt exclaimed

“Wolt, yes you can! You’re just being ignorant about it! All you just have to call me by my name?!” Roy semi-yelled.

“Why can’t you accept that I can’t call you that anymore! We’re not friends! We aren’t! Why are you so persistent?! Why, Lord Roy?!”

“Because I miss my friend! I just want the person I grew up with back! Wolt, please…!”

Wolt was taken aback at the begging from Roy.

“Lord Roy, I cannot stress this enough, no. M’lord, you know that won’t translate well with the nobles. You know I can’t do it-“

Roy cut him off.

“You can do it, Wolt. You’re just being stubborn! Why can’t we be friends like how we were before…?”

Silence.

Roy’s eyes still had a hopeful glint, and Lilina knew why.

The swordsman was rather more delusional than a genius in her eyes.

"Should we leave…? I think one of them might storm out and find us snooping around…” Sue trailed.

Lilina sighed, “Sure. I don’t want to get Roy angry at me again after what I did yesterday.”

“What did you do?” Sue said, sparked with curiosity.

"A small food fight, don't worry."

The two of them started walking again towards the stairs, as they were on the third floor. The two women went down the stairs, but meanwhile, Roy and Wolt were still arguing.

“Lord Roy, things have changed. Why can’t you understand?! It’s not a hard concept to grasp- “

Roy interrupted, “Why can’t you understand that all I want is my companion back?! Don’t you think I’m stressed out? That I haven’t tried to keep calm?! All I just want is for you

to be my friend again! I miss you!”

Roy felt almost as if he wanted to cry. Tears threatened to fall. He was flustered; all he wanted was his friend again. Wolt became distant, and so did him. It wasn’t just him,

although he didn’t want to admit it. Roy knew he was in the wrong too, but was it too much for Wolt to forgive him? Did he mess up more badly than he initially thought?

But most importantly…

Why did his childhood friend ignore and avoid him?

Roy was a capable leader, but not an empathetic one.

Wolt stayed quiet. He didn’t realize that the swordsman was a wreck, but nonetheless, they have better things to do than argue over something that would be resolved later.

Roy quickly gathered his thoughts and broke the silence, “I’m heading to the war room. Do you want to accompany me?”

Wolt weighed his options quickly and quietly replied, “I’ll tag along.”

Roy sighed.

“Good. I wasn’t going to give you an option, anyways.”

They made their way to the room in silence. For them, it was a normal stroll, as when they were young, they used to try to sneak in the room to hear their parents discuss the well-being of Lycia.

Wolt remembered scurrying along the hall walls with Roy, trying not to giggle as he followed the young heir.

He smiled as he remembered when Lord Eliwood had scolded them both. It helped ease the tension within the room, at least.

“What are you smiling at?” Roy asked, snapping Wolt back into reality.

The archer blushed and responded, “A-a memory. That’s all.”

Roy knocked lightly on the door and they heard a soft voice say, “Come in.”

When the two old friends entered, they saw half of the chairs filled up, with only six spaces remaining.

Each side had 6 chairs; the front and the back only had 1.

Roy felt something was off, but he couldn’t pin down exactly what it was. He pushed the feeling of uncertainty aside as he had things to discuss

Wolt glanced around the room. Igrene, Iduun, General Cecilia, General Klein, Sin, Queen Guinevere, Miledy, Lance, and Allen.

“We’ve been waiting,” Sin said, leaning on the wall with a lollipop in one hand and some papers on the other.

Queen Guinevere, whose arms laid on her lap, rolled her eyes and replied, “Lord Sin, cut him some slack. It’s his day and he has things to arrange.”

The Queen of Bern smiled warmly at Roy, for which the young general smiled back.

“Fine”

Lance and Allen were right beside Igrene, who had accompanied Iduun and Fae in their travels to Lycia.

“Should we start this meeting. After an hour, I don’t think we will have enough time to discuss the more… dangerous things,” Klein suggested, with a cup of tea in his hand.

Roy took a seat right across Sin with Wolt in pursuit.

“Things weren’t too rough on the journey, right?” Roy asked, with a slightly worried tone on his voice.

The war may have been over, but that didn’t mean that all danger was gone.

“Everything was fine for General Klein, Lady Clarine, and I until the Etrutia’s border, but it was only some troublesome rebels. Nothing that we wouldn’t be able to handle,” Cecilia said,

“Ah. Anyways, anything else of importance that needs to be brought up?” Roy inquired.

Igrene lit up, “Actually… yes, Lord Roy. Something strange has happened to Iduun recently.”

Roy furrowed his eyebrows and rested his chin on the palm of his hand, “What’s wrong?”

Igrene looked at Iduun for confirmation, and the dark priestess pulled the pin holding her silver hair up.

Iduun’s hair unraveled and went into the familiar design most of the army recognized, but quickly everyone noticed what was wrong.

“What in the name of hell is that?” Sin asked, pointing at the hair strand in question.

Klein eyes widened and blurted out, “L-Lord Roy, you might want to get a cleric or someone- “

Iduun looked at Roy straight in the eye, and Wolt looked in horror as to what was happening.

The dark priestess stood up, “You’re just like me,” she said, as she held the one purple strand of hair in question in Roy’s direction.

“You only have one fate, and it is only going to be as brutal as mine is.”

"... excuse me...?" Roy said, a little stunned at Iduun's words.

"You hold great power, almost as equal as mine," the dark priestess said, "but you don't know how to wield it, do you?"

The room was silent, but Roy spoke, "... Yes, you're right, but what does this have to do with anything?"

There was another pause, and the manakete finally spoke.

"There is someone after your power, like the dragons in the Scouring wanted mine. You will lose something, just like _I_ did."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I change the design of the intros a lot... I think I finally settled on something!  
I'm only doing this for convenience purposes, trust me. This story is a lengthy one.  
Nevertheless, I hope y'all had a good Valentine's Day!


	8. Failure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning has passed, and so has brunch. The afternoon holds some potential for the story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT TAKES ME FOREVER TO EDIT THE CHAPTERS JFGOERHIQWHEFQHLNSDCN  
I'll just have to suck it up...

##### [Preface Arc]:

###### [The Stained Glass]

**[Part VIII] / [Chapter 8]:**

### Failure

After having a decent brunch with the nobility and the royalty, Roy had to finally start getting ready for the big event.

Although he had a clear goal in mind, Roy was still troubled.

Iduun’s words kept on repeating on his head over, and over again.

_… fate… fate… fate… fate… fate…_

He put on his coat, which was decorated with swirls of gold and small, thin, lines painted silver. It was elegant but quite uncomfortable. At least it will give off the right message to the nobles upon glance…

He buttoned up the coat when someone opened his door and asked, “Bad timing?”

Roy glanced and saw Lilina peeking through the door.

His room wasn’t the neatest, which was something his father disapproved of. You’d expect for Lilina, being the brute she is, to have neatness as her weakness, but alas, it was the knowledgeable, noble, and quiet, Prince Roy of Lycia that had the curse of being reckless when it came to organization.

Roy was right beside his bed, which was still a gigantic mess like earlier. His bed sheets were thrown to the side, a comb was in there, forever lost, a bunch of feathers, and the ink fountain probably exploded in there.

He always had to pay extra to whichever poor soul came to clean his room. They probably found a trash monster in it…

Nevertheless, the only part of the room without anything on top of it was one of the couches beside a little table with a candle. It was Roy’s little reading corner, so he decided to keep it clean. Currently, the book Roy was reading to fall asleep was “Where the Blue Flower Grows”, which he had picked up recently. Sure, it was a short book, but it was interesting to learn about the legend of the boy who’s dogs became blessed by Saint Elimine in their graves, which created the first Illian Frostflower.

“You aren’t too busy, are you…?” She asked with a smile.

Oh no.

_Oh no _  
__

To an outsider, Lilina smiling was a good thing, though seeing the princess herself would be a blessing from the Saint. It was the opposite for Roy and anyone who was close to her, though. She smiled, and the next thing you know you’re on the floor with a bloody nose, that’s if you even have the strength to stay awake. Most people have just woke up in the infirmary with a cleric tending to their wounds.

“I only have a small break right now, so better make it quick,” Roy grumbled quietly, “What do you need?”

The mage’s eyes lit up as she came into the room and closed the door quietly.

She sat down as Roy was still trying to figure out the confusing mechanisms of his outfit. A moment of pleasant silence passed between them, both not caring much about the other's presence. It was usual for this to happen, but this time it was on purpose.

Lilina smiled as Roy turned his back on her. Perfect.

“So, you like Wolt, don’t you?”

Roy froze, “Now what leads you to that conclusion?” He asked, internally panicking as he knew he was going to have an awful time.

Lilina was always the one to pick up on the little things the way Eliwood did. On the other hand, Roy was more the type to analyze someone instead of just being able to recognize tiny hints, similar to how Hector got his information on Zephiel 5 years before the war happened.

Lilina’s smile grew wider and wider each second. She knew that Roy appeared tough on the outside, but with one small comment, his defenses were rendered useless and that made it easier to break him down.

“That’s a good question, oh mighty prince of Lycia,” She said sarcastically, “I don’t know, maybe it was the fact that just earlier you just had an argument with Wolt about your title.”

Roy immediately was aware that he wasn’t going to bullshit his way out of this revelation. Lilina was already far too aware of the way he acted about Wolt in general. He would become nervous, anxious even. He wanted to spend time with Wolt, but wouldn’t it be more uncomfortable than anything?

If Lilina already knew, what was left to defend?

Nothing, that’s what.

Roy sighed yet again and responded, “Yes. Now what else you want to force out of me?”

“That’s it,” the princess happily said as she hopped out of her seat and started to walk towards the door.

She stopped before she left and stated, “I told you I was going to find out, and I did. Let this be a reminder that you will never act in time for my schemes.”

She left, happily skipping across the hall as if nothing had happened while Roy stood there in frustration.

He sat down and quietly whispered, with his father’s voice scolding him in his head, “Well I’m fucked.”

“Allen, no”

“Yes”

“I said no. It’s the worst of times for me to even be near Roy”

“I don’t care. Go”

“I said no, Allen, and I will stand by my choice”

Allen rolled his eyes, “Why must you be so stubborn? Are you on your-?”

Wolt immediately slapped him out of embarrassment, “No. I’m not. Shut up before I punch you in the gut next time.”

Allen massaged the area that Wolt had hit him in, “Since when did you become this strong?” he asked, speech slightly slurred since his cheek still stung.

“Ever since I’ve had to carry a Steel Bow everywhere. I didn’t even try that hard,” Wolt scuffed with his arms crossed.

“You already know how he is, Allen,” Lance said as he picked up a training sword, “You never win arguments against people who wield weapons that kill at a distance.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Allen agreed, “Sue and Igrene are brutal.”

Wolt sighed in annoyance, “Maybe they would be nicer if you two didn’t sound arrogant.”

“We are not arrogant!” Lance cried out.

Allen tried to further back up his partner’s claim by stating, “We are prideful in our work and would like to impress Lord Roy.”

“Sure, if you call mediocre attempts of wielding a blade ‘work’.”

Allen laughed, “Says the person who only wields bows. You are being a hypocrite.”

“Alright then,” Wolt said as he picked up the training sword right in front of him, “try me.”

Lance and Allen glanced at each other and silently agreed that Lance should be the one to go forth against the archer.

Lance, who had quickly decided that he would grant pity upon the shorter retainer, said, “Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you.”

“That’s a huge mistake,” Wolt responded, eyes filled with determination, “Come at me full force.”

Allen agreed, “Teach him a lesson. Charge at him.”

An evil smirk appeared in Lance’s face, “Will gladly do.”

“Alright, you two. Duel to the death, training swords only, Lord Roy’s ruleset,” Allen clarified with a tinge of irony, “Are you ready?”

Wolt and Lance quickly got into position on opposite sides of each other and nodded at Allen, who now gladly took up the role of referee.

“Three…”

Wolt gripped his sword tightly, pointing it at Lance, who now seemed to be leaking wrongful pride.

“Two…”

Lance made a quick beheading motion with his hand, Wolt majorly ignoring it and kept a cold gaze towards his target.

“One…”

Allen drew a mental picture of this and quickly turned on his memory for a second. He needed to remember every single millisecond of this overly dramatic battle.

“Go!”

Lance quickly dashed towards Wolt and mustered up all his energy into a single strike towards Wolt’s shoulder, which was protected by his usual armor.

Unfortunately for him, he was heavily relying on Wolt’s lack of knowledge when it came to swords, which he had severely underestimated.

Wolt quickly dodged the attack and took advantage of the few seconds Lance was going to be actionless in and hit him with the flat side of his sword in his hand, making the

cavalier yelp in pain and drop the sword quickly.

The sword clattered and clinked in the ground, Allen cringing at Lance’s pain and said, “Ouch.”

As Lance held his injured hand to his chest, Wolt pointed the tip of the dull sword at his rival’s neck, “I win.”

The youngest stuck out his tongue at his competitor mockingly and quickly followed up his snide statement by saying, “Now, how am I being a hypocrite?”

“Fuck yo- “

“No swearing, Lance,” Said the intruder by the entrance of the training grounds.

It was none other than Queen Guinevere, who had Iduun and Klein right by her side. Both women already in their ceremonial garbs hours ahead of time with Klein still in his casual wear.

“Queen Guinevere?! What brings you here?!” Wolt exclaimed as he quickly elbowed Lance in the stomach hard, making the older groan in pain as he held his stomach.

“I was thinking about training, but I guess this area is busy with you bullying both Lance and Allen, Wolt,” Klein jokingly responded with his slight accent, making Wolt blush in embarrassment.

“W-Well, I wouldn’t necessarily call it bullying- “

“’Would not’ my ass! You hit me both in the hand and the stomach in less than 5 minutes!” Lance exclaimed, still clutching his reddened hand and stomach.

Klein giggled, “You are much stronger than you were, Wolt. Have you been practicing?”

Wolt blushed yet again and confirmed, “Yeah, I have. Ever since the war ended, I’ve been able to practice other weapons, but more often the lance.”

Allen choked.

“I’m sorry what?! You never told us about these secret weapon training sessions!”

“I don’t have to tell you what my full schedule is. That’s a little creepy,” Wolt noted.

Klein just smiled at the bickering trio.

“Does Lord Roy have to deal with this constant arguing all the time?” Guinevere asked out of curiosity.

Allen shrugged, “For that, your highness, I would not be able to answer. You would have to ask our lord yourself.”

Iduun, taking a mental note of Allen’s sudden change of speaking pattern, stated rather quietly, “The maids complain about you two.”

The trio froze, Allen quickly coming to his senses.

“Pardon, Iduun?”

“Those who work alongside you complain,” the dark priestess said louder this time and smiled playfully, “Ever since I came here, I wonder what other complaints the maids have to say about you and Lance. It has become more of a game for me to try to figure out what mischief you caused to get them so annoyed.”

While Lance and Allen stayed in silence, Wolt piped up, “Those two can be two handfuls, anyways, changing the subject of Lance and Allen’s combined stupidity- “ Iduun stifled a small chuckle, “- Is everything being welcoming for you three? I would hate it if anyone besides these two were causing trouble.”

“Everything’s fine on my end,” Klein positively responded, “Pherae is rather peculiar, though,” he noted, “it’s almost as if everyone in Pherae is happy except Roy.”

“I told you,” Allen loudly commented at Wolt after Klein’s remark.

“You don’t think it was what I had said… do you…?” Iduun inquired, a hint of worry in her voice.

“He’s been like this for quite the while,” Lance disconfirmed, “Lord Roy hasn’t been in the best of spirits. The ceremony probably isn’t making things better, either.”

“Yeah,” Allen agreed, “Now, if a certain Pherean archer wasn’t so being so stubborn-“

“Oh, shut it!” Wolt exclaimed, “If you’ve known for this long that Roy was in bad spirits, then why didn’t you do anything about it?!”

Silence.

It was not an easy task to make both of them shut up, but when it did happen, it felt… off. It was unusual to catch them doing something wrong, but Wolt had the satisfaction of being able to find out about their mistakes. This time, it was far off. It felt almost as if this mistake might cost them a lot more than expected…

“So, Are you going to speak up?” Wolt asked.

“Well, what are we supposed to respond to that?!” Allen exclaimed, now flustered, “We’ve been out for the past 2 weeks for Lord Roy’s request; we have not had the time to do anything about it!”

“Well, neither have I! You two are aware of what’s going on, on all four of our ends! If you had a brain, you would’ve done something about Lord Roy by now!” Wolt snapped back.

It was another stupid argument, yet one that asked a peculiar question.

Lance and Allen both have known about Roy’s situation, as well as Wolt’s limitations, and yet, why couldn’t they do anything about it? They were the adults in the small group, so they could easily muster up an answer, but they refused to.

It was an odd case at best; one with a motive behind it.

Wolt believed in no god, but now he was praying for an arrow to hit the dunces he dared to even speak to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As soon as I post this chapter I'll finish Chapter 10 (I already have Chapter 9 done) so I can post 9+10 at the same time. Thank you for reading (and your patience)!!!


	9. Fledgling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Since I can't write ceremonies, I'll write the eventful after-party)
> 
> Note: Sometimes Wolt is smart. Sadly, most of the time he's too oblivious like teens these days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 10 turned out to be 2x the usual length (the minimum chapter word count I have is 1700. So far, Chapter 10 is roughly 3,600 words long)
> 
> Instead of false promises at the end of chapter notes, I'll put small snippets of lore/the character's lives.
> 
> Hopefully, I'll finish Chapter 10 soon...
> 
> Can't wait to start writing Arc 1. It's going to be interesting...
> 
> Also, I did some math and this story is going to be like 76 chapters long??? I gotta pick up the pace.

###### [Preface Arc]:

##### [The Stained Glass]

**[Part IX] / [Chapter 9]:**

### [Fledgling]

Lilina scurried through the dimly lit halls, hoping to find Sue since she was the only one around that kept up with her.

The ceremony itself had just finished and there was now a ball going on, but she didn’t care about that. She needed to see Sue. Right now. She needed to know. There was no choice.

The princess kept on running in her heels, each step echoing through the empty halls.

‘Where is she?’ Lilina thought to herself.

Better question: If she were Sue, where would she be?

_’The garden’_

She quickly ran out of the main hall and got to the entrance doors. She loathed wearing dressed and shoes, as she would rather have her war outfit, but that wasn’t the point.

Lilina kept on running. She passed the courtyard, the sunroom, the training grounds, and at last, she found it, the garden.

It was a patch of land that rested higher than the rest of the first floor of the castle. It had an immense amount of biodiversity, both in a good way and a bad way.

Numerous pests dared to feast upon the bountiful products of the garden, such as oranges and the Morgan Apples.

The young princess looked through the large garden, and finally, she found Sue.

She was sitting in the benches looking up at the sky as if making a silent prayer.

Lilina came close to the archeress and announced her presence, “Sue, I’ve been looking for you.”

Sue turned around and responded, “Oh, my apologies,” shortly after, with slight hesitation, she playfully followed up with, “I was about to go looking for you since I needed to give you something.”

“A present for me? Well, you didn’t have to do that…” Lilina said sheepishly, with a slight blush on her face and hands fidgeting with the adornments in her dress.

The moon hung high on the sky, casting its mirrored cold rays upon the land of Elibe. It was a full moon on the summer solstice, almost as if fate had something to do with it…

“I had to,” Sue noted and smiled, “I know it’s Roy who’s getting a grand ceremony, but you need something as well. You’ve been handling the reconstruction of Ostia, right?”

Lilina sat down next to Sue and noted, “Yeah, I have, although it’s much easier said than done,” she looked up at the moon and said, “It’s… _somewhat_ crazy to think that the same moon here is the same one seen in Ostia.”

“It is, but Father Sky has his ways.”

Sue was now starting to get slightly nervous since she _knew_ she had to give Lilina the basket filled to the brim with the products of her hard work from yesterday ongoing today.

It was right now or never; she hated the thought, but she had made her choice. It was either this or regret, like the old saying, life or death.

“Anyways, about the present…” Sue trailed, “Here you go.”

It was a rather large basket made from wood with pink lace and small ribbons that ran along the top. Lilina quickly noticed it was much lighter than it looked.

The lightness piqued her interest and opened it to see the greatest thing in the world; _pastries_.

Sue swore she only blinked _once_ and Lilina had already stuffed her mouth with food.

“Sue,” she said, mouth still stuffed with the pastry, “this is the greatest present I’ve ever gotten in the past 5 years.”

The archeress wasn’t the one to get flustered easily, but Lilina was the only exception to that rule. She’d do anything to make Lilina happy… her smile could light up any room in her eyes...

“You’re exaggerating,” Sue responded, “You’ve probably had much more expensive gifts other than just a few pieces of bread…”

Lilina gulped down what she was eating, to be polite, and reassured, “For me, it’s not how _expensive_ a gift is, it’s the person who gave it to me and what they did to get it.”

In relaxed situations like this, Lilina would rather lie instead of being truthful, but it was _Sue_ who she was speaking to. She just couldn’t lie to the person who she loved; it was

just stupid logic.

Dear Elimine, Roy’s ideals were starting to rub off her…

“Well, in that case, what makes you think that this gift is better than everything else that you’ve gotten recently?” Sue asked out of curiosity.

Lilina, at first, didn’t realize she shared a common weakness with Roy, but just with that question, she realized that all the lies she has been telling her brother might just pay off eventually…

“U-uh well…” Lilina stumbled upon her words in nervousness, “You made these, I can tell. Although I’ve gotten more expensive gifts from my parents before, they were easy for them to acquire. Yours, though, had to have some work put onto it.”

Sue just blushed again and decided to ask, “You said it was the best gift you got _recently_. What was the other gift…?”

Lilina’s eyes lit up, “Well…” she trailed, “You know what? I’ll tell you. I know I can trust you.”

The mage took a little bag out of her dress, which had pockets. She opened it and there was a stone that glowed a faint light blue.

Sue quickly recognized what it was: a _dragonstone_. Sue grabbed it, as Lilina had offered her to take it.

“It was a gift from my father,” She said quietly, “I never met my… _mother_ for a good reason… this is it.”

Sue looked at the fragile stone that she held in her hand. It was clear it had lost some of its original power since the other dragonstones she had seen before shined brightly and looked vibrant, not dull. Something had happened, but Sue decided to not push it.

“So if this was your mother’s does that mean you’re a….?”

‘Yes, I’m a manakete, or well, _part_ manakete. I’m not a pureblood, as you can tell,” Lilina confirmed.

Sue inspected the gem a bit further. It was… peculiar. It didn’t have the purple tint Iduun’s had, or the teal Fae’s possessed…

“Do dragonstones have different colors depending on which type of dragon it is?” Sue inquired.

“According to Fae they do. I asked her and Iduun what the glow could mean, but they weren’t sure. They said it could be for a Torrent dragon, but the glow was off,” Lilina explained.

“I’m sorry if I come off as a bit nosy but, what types of dragons are there?”

Lilina smiled, “I don’t mind answering your questions. I know this subject is one of interest, especially if your friend that you’ve thought was a human the entire time turned out to be part dragon.”

While Sue and Lilina spent their time together, there was another pair on the third floor enjoying the full moon.

Wolt had been looking for Roy earlier since the newly crowned king disappeared without a trace. He had looked all around the first floor and his quarters, and just as he was

about to give up, he decided to look in the room where the stained glass was.

The archer finally found himself at the doors of the room and chose to be discreet when he came in. He opened the grand doors slowly, almost as if there were an enemy in the

room without notice.

Nevertheless, the young vassal looked straight ahead, only to see one lone figure.

If Wolt were an idiot, he would’ve already dashed in and demand why Roy wasn’t at the ceremony, since after all, it was a ceremony that celebrated him. He was the new king of

Lycia, so why isn’t he out there making bonds with the nobles?

The former prince was tired, that’s why.

Roy looked up sadly at the beautiful stained glass depicting his parents.

It was.... breathtaking.

Both of his parents.... they were so happy, only for Zephiel to ruin it. He had loathed that man for the longest time. He started a war out of his foolish desire and risked the lives

of his people as well as others. Zephiel knew what he had done, and he got away with something like his goal; killing humanity, well, at least a portion of it. 1/7th of the population of Elibe, gone.

The first thing he saw was Roy sitting down at the steps gazing up at the glass.

Wolt knew far too well what Roy was probably thinking about.

Lord Eliwood and Lord Hector’s deaths’.

They happened far too sudden for him.

“… Lord Roy,” Wolt whispered loud enough for the swordsman to take notice, quickly turning around.

“Wolt, what… brings you here?” he asked, blue eyes faintly glowing in the dark room.

The archer knew his heart probably skipped three beats, but he knew science wouldn’t believe him.

“I was looking for you, my lord,” Wolt replied, taking a quick decision to either say ‘Your highness’ or ‘My Lord’ and ending up choosing the ladder.

“Mind if I accompany you?” the archer followed up with.

“You’re more than welcome to join me,” Roy replied.

Wolt sat down next to Roy at the staircases in front of the stained glass.

Silence fell over both of them, Wolt now starting to get slightly nervous at the amount of ice between them both.

“Why have you been like this lately, Roy?” Wolt asked quietly.

The archer quietly cursed at himself for making such an idiotic question, since Roy might as well just shake the question off not to mention he didn’t address him properly.

No reply.

Just as Wolt was about to take the question back, Roy sighed and responded, “I just wanted to look strong. I wanted to be like my dad. His reign was firm, calculated, and

confident. I wanted to be more like him....”

Wolt paused for a second.

He didn’t expect a response in the first place, much less a serious response.

Roy was notorious for downplaying his answers, and now hearing him say something in honestly felt… odd.

Roy looked over at him with a sad glint in his eye.

“I want to be a ruler like him. He stood firm on his choice no matter what. I don’t want to look weak and powerless in front of everyone else...” Roy trailed.

His light blue eyes were sparkling in the light. He knew Roy was the one to push himself too far... and he was also very talented.

He could shake off any situation without having to process it. He made sure everyone was happy. He was idealistic. Charming. Handsome...

It suddenly hit Wolt like a brick.

He wanted to be a ruler like King Hector was, and he clearly achieved the image. Wolt just caught himself listing the things that made him appear to be a ‘Good Leader’. They

were only physical traits, not traits that someone in a position of power necessarily had to have.

“Roy... I know you want to be like Lord Hector, but he also needed someone by his side to help him out. Having a talent for the political side of things can only be balanced out

by someone who cares as much about the people,” Wolt blurted out, not putting much thought into his words.

“How come?” Roy inquired.

Wolt decided to think for a second and after deciding a fitting sentence, he responded.

“Lord Eliwood was always by his side. They were inseparable. He dealt with the situations that involved the townsfolk and the rowdy nobles, something Lord Hector wouldn’t have been able to do as efficiently. He wouldn’t trust anyone but lord Eliwood did. Lord Hector, on the other hand, made sure Lycia had the militia it needed and the political bonds it needed to thrive. That’s why they were such great rulers”

Roy looked at Wolt in the eye and then back to the stained glass.

Was what he said true...?

Well, his parents were truly inseparable. They never left each other’s side and never failed to bicker each other to death...

… but they also managed to keep Lycia united for 5 years on their own. Hector had handled the political affairs while Eliwood made sure everyone was safe and didn’t have concerns…

“I... I guess you’re right,” he admitted.

“Not everyone rules alone. If they do... we’ve seen what happens,” Wolt added, remembering the entire war against Zephiel.

“You’re right. I’m going to admit fault here. Thank you, Wolt,” Roy said.

Wolt looked at Roy and responded with a smile, “No need for thanks. At least I’m helping you out a little”

Roy chuckled.

“What’s so funny?”

“These are the kinds of talks we should have as friends. For once, it feels like I’m with the Wolt that I was with years ago, running around the castle with Lilina right behind us”

“I do miss those days, but things have changed....” Wolt trailed.

He looked back at the glass.

He wanted to stay by Roy's side and help him out.... even if it was unrequited.

He just wanted to be useful to him in some sort of way…

Roy stood up from his place and said, “People are going to notice I’m gone in a bit. We should probably leave…”

He didn’t want to go.

He wanted to stay with Wolt.

To hold him tight like he used to.

But alas, a king must go forth.

Roy believed there was a force that meddled with how the universe worked. It wasn’t a god that made miracles happened or a deity that answered prayers; it was a force that decided how things would go down.

That force was telling him to leave it at that, since there

Wolt stood up.

“Come on, can’t leave a crowd hanging,” he archer said with a smile on his face.

“Y-yeah… let’s leave,” Roy reconfirmed, anxiety already building upon his chest.

Should he tell Wolt now or…

Roy quickly shook off the thought of just outright confessing his love. He would rather not possibly ruin the moment they just shared. Two sets of footsteps could be heard for a few seconds, almost like an acapella. Then one of the sets stopped. So did the other one. Roy looked back and saw Wolt.

Tears were streaming down his face, shimmering down in the moonlight.

“...Wolt?”

The archer was trembling; his gaze fixed at the entrance.

Roy started to walk up to Wolt in worry.

“A-are you-“

Wolt shook his head.

“It’s going to be here,” he urgently whispered.

“Wolt I don’t understand-“

“Someone… Someone is going to set the castle on flames…”

Roy was taken aback, “Wolt what do you mean?” the swordsman asked.

Now that had him worried.

The castle… in flames…?

“Wolt, what is going on?! Tell me!” Roy asked, worry dripping down his voice.

Before Wolt could snap out of it, he fainted much to Roy’s dismay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Wolt once caught a fish with his bare hands when he was 3 because it was shiny. Ninian and Rebbecca were incredibly proud :)
> 
> 2\. Lilina dies a little inside when she is remembered of the embarrassing stunts Hector pulled off.
> 
> 3\. Sue likes butterflies. Rath would often take her out so they could chase them together.
> 
> 4\. Roy read the entire library of Pherae. He struck a deal with libraries in Lycia in which as long as the staff promised to teach kids how to read, he'd give them extra funds.


	10. The Forgotten, The Traitor, The Liar, and The Heir

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (I am far too lazy to write this, so TL;DR feelings uwu)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *slams hand down on table* I'M BACK AND READY TO POST ANOTHER CHAPTER WHOOO-
> 
> This chapter seriously took longer than I anticipated, but that's because I doubled my workload (I usually write 1800> but this time it's 4k+. Am I dumb for more than doubling my chapter word count? Yes. Yes I am)  
I swear the quality of this fic will improve in the next part... Hopefully... (pst I decided to lower the chapter count from 76 to a more reasonable 60. I seriously have no idea what I'm doing)
> 
> Also, I decided to do a formatting overhaul... again... because I'm big dumb. I think adding a little more... ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* pizzaz *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ might look good :3
> 
> (I'm going to fix the formatting after I post this chapter... yay... fun...)
> 
> Please, enjoy this long-overdue chapter that I am not particularly fond of...

###### [Preface Arc]:

##### [The Stained Glass]

**[Finale]: [Part X] / [Chapter 10]:**

### [End of the Arc: The Forgotten, The Traitor, The Liar, and The Heir]

“So, you’re saying that your father lied entirely?” Sue asked, in disbelief.

“Yep. It runs in the family,” Lilina responded, more ashamed than anything.

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

There was a long pause.

“I had never thought so many things could be lied about… what else has Lycia hidden?” Sue inquired, knowing she was treading on a very thin line.

Lilina hummed as she started to think of anything else.

Most of the things that she had previously mentioned mostly tied back to either her or a few things before the war, for instance, the Ostian spies that her father sent out to gather information for Zephiel.

And that made her remember an obscure memory.

“I’m pretty sure I’m at least going to get a detail or two completely wrong…” Lilina started, trying her hardest to remember the dialogue spoken, “but I remember a few days before Roy and I started our studies in Ostia, my father strictly told General Cecilia to not teach Roy magic,” she continued, her voice now more quiet.

“I don’t remember too clearly on this next part, but it was because of an incident that had happened a few years before Roy and I met,” she continued, eyebrows slightly furrowed, “I was never told of what it was, but that contradicts General Cecilia’s statement that she told me during the war about Roy not being able to wield magic because he would strain himself by doing so.”

“Why would General Cecilia lie?” Sue thought out loud, wondering why someone just threw out such a seemingly pointless lie.

“I don’t know,” Lilina responded, “I thought about it for a while after our conversation, but then I forgot about it until now. She hid something from us…”

Sue sighed after a slight pause and commented, “It’s another one of those odd mysteries you can find in a book.”

“Now that you mention it, it does,” Lilina added, “Oh well. That is something for another time. Anyways, anything else you have in mind?”

“Not really,” Sue replied, “but let us stay out here for a bit more. I’m not quite ready to go back into a room full of prickly nobles.”

Wolt slowly came back into consciousness as he heard a frantic voice telling him to wake up.

“Wolt? Wolt! Oh, thank the lord you’re starting to wake up!” his savior cried out, Wolt quickly realizing 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘙𝘰𝘺’ 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘴.

Wolt made a seemingly inhuman sound – much to Roy’s surprise – and apologized while avoiding his gaze, “I’m sorry… I-“

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” Roy bitterly said, cutting Wolt off, “You scared the shit out of me-“

“That… isn’t the language your father would like you to use”

Roy rolled his eyes, “I couldn’t care less about my words as long as they get the message across, that being that you nearly gave me a heart attack!”

That statement quickly made Wolt snap back into reality and now he was hyper-aware of his surroundings.

The swordsman caught on onto what Wolt was going to say and promptly added, “Yes, I sound insensitive and abruptly out of character for me, but I… I got worried.”

Wolt finally looked up to Roy and decided it was a big mistake.

“Look at me,” Roy commanded, but Wolt refused to look at him in the eyes again.

“… Wolt, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦…”

Still no response.

Wolt was aware of his actions, and he didn’t want to embarrass himself any further, but Roy wasn’t taking any of his intentional ignorance lightly.

The former prince sighed and spoke with a saddened look on his face and a heartbroken tone, “I know I haven’t been there for you lately and I understand why you might find me… 𝘦𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤, for lack of a better word, and I know you will take everything I say with a grain of salt, but…”

“Believe it or not, I often find myself wondering if I have made the right choice when it comes to any political affairs and… although I hate to admit it, I know why,” Roy continued, “I second guess my actions because I have no one else to tell me that I am going down the right path or tell me it was the best course of action, and lately… I… I…”

Wolt finally looked at Roy to find him looking distressed deeply embarrassed.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake I can’t even speak my own thoughts without spiraling into an incoherent mess! I’m sorry, I am so, so, 𝘴𝘰 sorry…”

Wolt couldn’t speak. He was utterly in shock.

Under the gentle caress of the stars, Lilina and Sue were laughing.

There could not ever be such a perfect moment; it was only them alone. Sue never knew such scenery existed, but now she did. It was… spectacular. They were having a blast causing mischief and chaos all around the castle boundaries, which was slightly uncharacteristic of Sue; but who cares? Sue was having the time of her life with the one she had loved ever since laying her eyes on her.

And alas, the wind blows its call, catching Sue by surprise. She knows it will eventually be the time, but now it still was not right. She still had to wait a little longer for the string of fate to permanently intertwine her string with Lilina’s. This was the only chance Sue would get to change the course of her fate and Elibe’s. She had no choice. Not now…

One thing about Sue is that she 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 when the time is right, but now it wasn’t. She wouldn’t even have the audacity to ruin the amazing hour she had spent with Lilina at Castle Pherae with her boldness, but eventually, she would have to confess despite her nerves.

“You know, Sue, you never really talk about your life in Sacae now that I think about it. Was it bad, or is it just that you’re not used to talking about yourself at all?” Lilina asked.

Frankly, Lilina had never realized how much she 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 know about Sue. She knew Sue was the daughter of Rath, the former leader of the Kutolah clan, an irresistible aura about her, and many more things she could ramble on about because of her bias.

”I was never the talkative person, even growing up. It made me a bit of a social outcast, but I lived with it. I had nature to speak with, which made the load a little easier,” Sue returned.

Now curious, Lilina queried, ”What does nature tell you? Oh! Does it talk about me?”

”W-well… they talk about you, all right. They say many great things about you, like how amazing you are and how strong you have become,” Sue responded, now flustered at the question.

”Really?! Does… Does nature say all those nice things about me…?” Lilina said with astonishment.

”It does. They say you’re beautiful, smart, charming, persevering, resilient… I could go on and on about the things nature speaks about you, but I think it would take hours.”

”W-wow… I never knew it said such nice things about me… I should probably talk to nature myself someday… maybe you could teach me how to communicate with nature!” Lilina stated, flattered.

”I would be more than glad to. I think you two would make a good duo, considering you already know some healing and mending magic,” Sue truthfully responded with a smile on her face.

”Well, I look forward to that day!” Lilina exclaimed with a slight giggle at the end.

”What about your parents? Did you at least get some time with them when you were young?” Lilina inquired yet again.

”I had plenty of time with my father. We went out hunting, fishing, training, talking…” Sue trailed, and a smile formed on her face, “He was the world to me when I was younger, and I looked up to him because of his feats. Although he is now in a better place… I’d rather not mourn over his death. Whenever I get reminded of him, I smile as a small 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘠𝘰𝘶 to him, as he must be watching from the heavens.”

”I wish I had that sort of way of thinking things. Sue, I envy you,” Lilina commented.

”Sure, nature may have said all those nice things about me, but you’re indefinitely better than me,” she continued, “You act so mature and always get through the toughest of situations without giving a second thought! I wish I could be more like you since you’re so strong and… Ugh! I cannot put into words how… 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 you are!”

” I-I’m not that great! You 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 be bluffing!” Sue counterargued.

”But you 𝘢𝘳 that amazing! I just wish you could stay here with me so you could help me out with Ostia! Having you next to my side would make things much smoother and give me a morale boost!” Lilina shot back, not thinking of the message she was getting across with her words.

”I would l-love to, but I 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 to go back to Secae, as much as I don’t want to…” Sue responded, blushing madly.

”Well then, why don’t you stay here? If you don’t want to leave, then don’t! I already heard Sin is going to be the next chief of the Kutolah clan!” Lilina countered

”I wish things were that simple. Even though the Kutolah clan doesn’t need me anymore I still have to go somewhere else…” Sue trailed.

”Well then, where else do you have to go? Maybe, instead of staying with me, I can go with you!” Lilina suggested.

“I… Well…” Sue started, “It’s complicated. Very, 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺, complicated. I don’t think the hassle in that situation will be of any benefit.”

“Well then, why can’t you stay here or me going with you? It mustn’t be that complicated!”

“It is, though,” Sue informed, “Secae still needs me. 𝘊𝘢𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯 still needs me. If the nobility there suddenly found out that the Princess of Lycia just came over to Secae it would cause an uproar.”

“But why?”

Sue stayed silent for a second.

“I am the heiress to the Caelin throne, Lilina.”

Lilina stood there in disbelief.

“Nobody knows about it except a man by the name of Kent,” Sue quickly added to make Lilina feel a little less bad about the sudden announcement, “I was told to claim the throne when I was 17, and Kent would make sure all of the nobles got on board. I don’t know how it will all work out, but I will have to make do with what I will be given>”

“That… explains a lot,” Lilina commented, “but still, I want to go with you after all of this is over.”

Sue stayed silent for a bit, now wondering how in the name of hell she even got into this mess, but she persisted.

“What will your people say about your choice, then?” Sue asked, “They’ll look at you as the princess who did her job and then left to another country in competition with the one you were from. You’ll be perceived as a traitor.”

Lilina looked down, stayed quiet for a second, and rebutted, “I know I’ll look bad, but I wish I didn’t have to act like the perfect sister of the more than perfect king. I was never prepared for any of this,” she looked up at Sue yet again, and took the Secean’s hands into hers, “… When I’m around you, I don’t have to be like that. I am… 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 from all of those pressures.”

Sue could hear her own heart pounding in her chest and realized it was the time.

“I share the same sentiment,” Sue started slowly, “The war took a large toll on me, but you seem to understand me. Both of our homelands were torn by war, we both have lost our parents; our mothers just vanished without a trace when we were young, and our fathers died a gruesome death, leaving us behind….”

Sue took a deep breath – Lilina now posing a blush akin to her own – and continued, “You and I have had similar stories, and after we met, we’ve been there for each other… and I want to be transparent with you because I can’t bear to hide it away from you anymore.”

Lilina looked at Sue, waiting for what she was going to say in anticipation.

“Lilina,” Sue shakily started, “I… am in love with you.”

“W-Wait… Eleanor!” Wolt exclaimed desperately, trying to make Roy stop crying.

He was 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨. He didn’t know what to do. He hadn’t seen Roy cry for years, and now he doesn’t know how to react to the situation.

The name caught Roy off guard; he lowered his hands like a frightened child now ridden with confusion.

Wolt chocked on the second and he awkwardly blurted, “I... well... Eleanor... I... don’t like to see you cry.”

Roy stared at him in disbelief.

“Eleanor,” Wolt said, a little firmer this time, “Please don’t cry... I hate to see you cry.”

Wolt proceeded to hug Roy, who was now accepting that yes, he wasn’t dreaming.

“Wolt...” Roy softly whispered, reciprocating the gesture, “Thank you.” Something about Roy’s tone immediately changed. It didn’t sound forced. It didn’t sound like a commander.

It was… 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵… he meant it.

“There’s nothing to thank me for,” Wolt responded, voice equally as quiet.

They both stayed in each other’s arms for what seemed like an eternity. There was nothing. It was only them, enjoying the other’s warm embrace. It was a perfect moment.

“I meant them both. The thank you and I’m sorry,” Roy said, “My responsibilities have gotten in the way of what should’ve been more important... you.”

“I am so, so sorry. I truly am. I have longed to be with you for the longest time yet... I’ve been the one who’s also contributed to this whole mess,” Roy continued.

Wolt shook his head, “There is nothing to be sorry for. You’ve done a lot of work for this country and none of those moments should be spent on someone lowly like me.”

Roy huffed.

“Lowly? No, you’re not that at all. I wish you could just understand how much you are actually worth.”

“Well then, what do I have of value that no one else has? Anyone can wield a bow, listen to orders, and follow them properly. Anyone could easily replace me,” Wolt stated, matter-of-factly.

There was a pause.

“No one can replace you. You have no idea of how much you mean to me…”

“Anyone can earn trust,” Wolt rebutted dryly, completely oblivious to Roy’s tone, “I just so happened to get it early on.”

Roy looked away and said, “You’re missing the point.”

“I’m not missing anything-“

“Forget I said or did anything,” Roy quickly interrupted, voice sounding irritated and strangely, he looked mildly disappointed, “Let’s go back.”

“If that’s what you wish, milord,” Wolt responded, going back to his old habit.

Roy wasn’t happy at all. For numerous months on end, he had been desperately trying to reconnect with the stubborn knight that he had fallen in love with, yet his obliviousness was a lot more than what Roy had anticipated it to be.

Wolt quickly got off from Roy’s lap and gestured for him to come along, suddenly halting his thoughts.

The swordsman stood up with so many thoughts on his mind but kept quiet,

Wolt suddenly realized that his pocket did not feel as heavy as before.

The archer reached for it and the pouch he had put the necklace in. It was gone.

“Lord Roy, are we heading to the ballroom again?” Wolt asked, anxiety peaking.

Roy kept his gaze towards the flight of stairs they were about to take, “Where else would we go?”

“Ah… I just dropped something. Mind if we go back so I could go fetch it, Lord Roy?”

The shorter Pherean finally met Wolt’s gaze and he just nodded.

The reality of falling in love with such an oblivious, hotheaded archer…

Roy has tried getting closer to Wolt after he had made his mistake of leaving him 4 years ago. It had to be the most idiotic thing he had ever done, only because he was too busy putting his duties on top of his friendship. He deeply regretted such an act now, especially when Wolt needed him the most…

He was a fool; biting more than he could chew.

Roy leaned on the trim of the door of the room with the weapons he hid earlier in the day. He knew something was going to happen, just not sure what it was going to be. Zephiel being revived? A riot? Iduun going mental? Who knew, but all that mattered was the welfare of the kingdom… and Wolt. That was all that mattered to him…

The swordsman saw the stained glass yet again; it was enormous and was very precious to the people of Pherae. The walls lining the room had depictions of the lives of the people of Pherae dating back to Roland’s days.

The old, icy tundra of Pherae with heavy snowfall and the frozen ocean. It was vastly different from what it was now, post the major magic imbalances the 8 legendary weapons caused on the land of Elibe. Before, nomads ruled Elibe; traveling alongside herds of animals attempting to survive the cruel cold. Now, Pherae thrived with the plentiful fish and a major port. Unfortunately, the number of nomads dwindled as time passed, the last 2 biggest groups, the Kutolah, and the Lorca, now gone because of selfishness and war.

Sue must have gone through a lot of pain seeing her homeland set ablaze and her tribe slaughtered by Zephiel’s hands…

“Lord Roy…?”

Roy snapped back from his thoughts to reality, Wolt now in front of him with a small bag in his hands.

“Alright, let’s head out.”

Wolt seriously contemplated what he was going to do.

He could easily keep the necklace for another time, since Roy was never too fond of his mother anyways, though… something about the necklace was… off?

It was as if it was not meant to be in his hands at all. When he held his dragonstone, Wolt 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 it was his own because of the power radiating from it and the necklace had a similar effect, though not for him. It seemed almost sinister, but Wolt wasn’t well versed in magic like Lilina was, so he was most likely imagining the entire thing.

The necklace was meant for Roy. It needed to be given to Roy for some reason, but it wasn’t just because it used to be Mark’s…

“Wait!” Wolt exclaimed a little louder than he intended, Roy turning around at the request.

“What do you need?” Roy snapped, clearly distressed.

Wolt took the necklace out of the bag, hands shaking.

“I meant to give this to you…”

Roy reached for it and examined it.

‘I thought I had hidden this…’

“Where did you find it?” Roy inquired, noticing the stone was back in its place.

“I found it broken in the storage on the second floor,” Wolt recalled, anxiety rising, “I had a little help fixing it, but I thought I’d give it back to you since Lord Eliwood spent a long time trying to find it…”

‘Oh, crap,’

“Thank you, Wolt,” Roy said, trying his hardest to keep a small smile despite the guilt gripping his consciousness, “I never expected to see this again…”

Roy’s dishonest smile faltered a little after remembering the wretched woman it used to belong to.

“Anything wrong, Lord Roy…?” Wolt asked, noticing the slight change.

“Don’t worry I’m just overthinking…” Roy trailed.

Bullshit.

“Lord Roy, I know you better, what’s wrong if you don’t mind me asking?”

Roy just stared blankly.

A shrill voice still rang in his head…

“Lord Roy…?”

Roy kept quiet, and before Wolt could attempt to get his liege’s attention again, Roy spoke.

“Wolt…” Roy called quietly, gaze still blank, “… Do you promise to stay by my side forever…?”

Wolt was a little shocked at how out of the blue the question was, “O-Of course. That’s what I swore to do.”

“That’s not what I meant…” Roy lamented and sighed, “Anyways, what happened earlier? Are you feeling better now?”

“A-Ah… 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵,” Wolt said, “I’m sorry for what happened earlier. I-“

“I didn’t ask for an apology, Wolt. You’re hiding something from me,” Roy interrupted harshly.

Wolt seriously didn’t want to tell Roy what he saw, “Lord Roy, I don’t want to worry you…”

“I do not care about that. I care about 𝘺𝘰𝘶”

Lilina was flustered at the confession, but that aside, she felt relieved.

“Oh, Sue…” she whispered, “I wanted to go with you because I love you and want to stay with you…”

“I don’t want to leave your side. I feel so happy when I’m with you and I don’t want to change that… and nobody will change that choice. I don’t care if the people see me as a traitor; either way, there will be people that hate me and 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. I’d rather spend a life being chastised and happy instead of being loved by many but feel miserable,” Lilina added, a big smile on her face.

Sue finally got a grip of herself after being stunned in the entirety of Lilina’s speech, “I… I would love to do that as well,” then, her expression turned into concern, “Though, are you sure you want to do this…?”

Lilina nodded, “Of course I do! Nothing will come between us; I’m sure of it!”

Sue smiled from her optimism, “If you say so. Mother Earth and Father Sky will protect us if that’s the case. As long as we stay together, they’ll lend us their strength as well.”

“… What kind of power?” Lilina asked, the mention of power piquing her interest.

“That’s something we’ll have to discuss in a more private landscape, but for now just know that I have some blood ties for the time being,” Sue vaguely responded.

“Alright!” Lilina cheerily replied, “We will use our powers to achieve our goals!”

Sue smiled.

“We will become an unstoppable duo… and no one can prevent that.”

“I… Lord Roy-“

“Please, just tell me!” Roy begged.

Wolt sighed and gave up his act, “I saw something.”

Immediately, Roy’s expression turned to one of concern, “What was it? You know you have to tell me about these things-“

“I know, I know,” Wolt said, raising his arms defensively, “but… this time it was strange. I’ve seen different parts play out in my dreams and during random times…”

“So, you hid this from me longer than I anticipated…” Roy shook his head and asked, “What have you gotten to see?”

Wolt was very tempted to lie, but he knew it was of no use, “It was an attack on this castle, “ he said in a hushed tone, “A man clad with heavy armor and an axe in his hand was leading the opposing army.”

“Would’ve been nicer to know this beforehand,” Roy responded, mildly annoyed, “but I already feared something like that would happen. I have everything under control, thank you for finally confirming my suspicions Wolt”

There was a small moment of silence, Wolt looking at the shimmering amulet Roy had in his hand

“Lord Roy, how did you lose that necklace?” Wolt questioned, “Didn’t Lord Eliwood give it to you years ago as a gift?”

“… Yes. Yes, he did,” Roy replied through gritted teeth.

‘She will never be my mother! She ruined my dream and you both hid it from me!’

“How did you lose it? I remember you used to always wear it…” Wolt inquired again.

“It must’ve been misplaced,” Roy lied.

He would always remember the sickening shatter as the necklace hit the ground and the look of disbelief in his father’s eyes-

Roy inspected the necklace; it was as good as new. Though there was a strange blue glint to the green stone… it must have been the lighting in the room.

The thought of Wolt going through the trouble of fixing the necklace gave Roy a feeling of… debt…?

It overpowered his resentment for the object, that’s for sure, but… Wolt doing all of this made him want to keep it this time.

“… Again, thank you for finding it,” Roy said, “I need to repay you.”

Wolt’s eyes widened and he shook his head, “No, it’s alright, Lord Roy. I wanted to give it back to you as a small gift. I know it meant a lot to you.”

“Still…” Roy trailed, “Is there… 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨… you would like?”

“Nothing, really,” Wolt responded.

Another long moment of silence.

“Wolt…” Roy spoke, timidly.

“Hm? What is it, Lord Roy?”

“A-about earlier…” Roy continued, flustered, “… I want to tell you something.”

“You can tell me anything, Lord Roy.”

Finally, Roy inhaled, already knowing he was going to mess something up.

“When I said you mean a lot to me… I mean it. I… I don’t know how to explain it-“

Wolt gave Roy a quizzical look, making Roy a little frightened of what he was going to say next.

“-and when you mentioned my parents ruling together… it only made me realize how lonely I’ve been for the last couple of months…”

“I don’t want you to be my vassal! I… I-!”

Roy didn’t want to blurt out ‘I want to marry you goddammit’ since it would be strange, so he took a small moment to think about what he was going to say, and finally decided upon his set of chosen words.

“Wolt, I want you to rule by my side. Not as a vassal, but as someone who I love.”

After saying – well, stuttering - those words, Roy could feel the heat radiating from his face.

Wolt looked gobsmacked. The amount of confusion and shock inside his head was showing on the outside too…

“I… um…” Wolt stuttered, trying to get his shit together, “E-Eleanor I-“

“Don’t feel forced to accept this,” Roy quickly said, “I shouldn’t have put you in such a hard spot. I’m so-“

Finally, Wolt got tired of Roy jumping to conclusions ahead of time (like the former prince usually did in stressful situations) and kissed him.

It wasn’t that ‘romantic’ and far from perfect, but it got the point across.

“Please let me finish what I’m saying next time,” Wolt said, a lopsided smile on his now reddened face, “I was going to say that I would more than gladly take your hand, but actions speak louder than words.”

Now Roy was shocked, mouth agape.

The redhead, mind now riddled many thoughts, could only weakly ask, “What did I do to deserve you?”

“Uh…” Wolt started, the absent-minded question throwing him off-guard, “Exist?”

Roy finally snapped back into reality, “N-no…Nevermind. I should start going to sleep earlier-“

“We should start right now then!” Wolt said a little too chipper, smile now turning into a grin.

“Wait wha-“

“Come on, Eleanor,” Wolt said with a glint in his eye, “It’s getting late anyway. Lilina can take over for a few hours.”

“The nobles will notice me gone!” Roy hissed, “Plus sleep is not that important at this moment!”

“Sue has me covered already,” Wolt explained, “and we can rest like the old times with the pillow fortresses if you want – but we’re going to sleep anyways.”

“… fine…” Roy grumbled.

“Alright then, let’s go!” Wolt said happily, running off with Roy in tow.

… The nobles did not have fun with a sugar-rush Lilina taking over the selection of pastries in the ballroom of the castle.

At least nothing went wrong…

… 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Iduun likes the smell of strawberries, for some odd reason.
> 
> 2\. Miledy prefers water over any other drink
> 
> 3\. Sue takes Fae out for rides on her horse every once in a while, like she promised she would.
> 
> 4\. Zeiss is fond of all wyverns. He manages to calm down even the ones that are hostile.
> 
> [Zeiss will appear because haha wyverns go brrrrr]


End file.
